The appetite for exchange-traded funds knows no bounds. According to the latest ETFGI census, the global ETF industry shattered its all-time records last year. By the end of November 2025, no fewer than 2,759 new products had been introduced on the world's financial markets, testifying to the unprecedented vitality of index and thematic management.
Acceleration driven by the USA-Asia axis
The sector's dynamism is striking: compared to the 1,789 launches in 2024, the growth in supply has accelerated exponentially. While Europe maintains a solid pace, with 462 new vehicles, the center of gravity of this expansion lies in the USA-Asia-Pacific axis, which now accounts for 66% of global creations. A noteworthy fact for allottees is that the survival rate of funds seems to be improving: product closures have slowed (500 by 2025), a sign of a market that is gaining in maturity and relevance in its launches.
Conversion": the technological engine of the US market
Why such a leap, particularly in the US, with over 1,000 new products? The answer lies in a profound change in the asset management landscape: the massive conversion of mutual funds into ETFs.
This year's emblematic example is the Akre Focus ETF, which went public last October with almost $10 billion in assets under management. For asset management companies, this transformation is more than just aesthetic: it enables them to offer investors a more agile structure, optimized for tax purposes (particularly under the U.S. regime) and often with more competitive management fees. This phenomenon is radically transforming the existing offer, making it more accessible via the usual trading platforms.
Active management: the new ETF frontier
The major lesson for family offices and wealth planners lies in the very nature of these launches: of all new products, 1,454 are actively managed ETFs. This statistic confirms that the ETF envelope is no longer reserved solely for passive replication of broad indices. It is becoming the preferred vehicle for discretionary convictions, complex bond strategies or niche themes (AI, infrastructure, energy transition).
This proliferation of offerings, driven by giants like BlackRock (iShares) or specialists like Global X, offers unprecedented granularity in portfolio construction. It does, however, require asset management professionals to carry out an increasingly sophisticated selection process, while the number of active providers on the world's 40 stock markets continues to grow.
This article has been automatically translated using Breeze, powered by DeepL.