The growth of passive management in Europe is an inevitable trend, as in the rest of the world. According to Morningstar, Listed funds raised 161 billion euros over the yearwith data until October, a figure which suggests a record volume of net flows, greater than 159 billion in 2021. Indeed, ETF assets have already exceeded the two trillion euro mark on the European marketof which 70% are invested in variable income strategies.
This increase in exchange traded funds is mainly supported by the use made by institutional investors, used more tactically for their short and medium term strategies, although the penetration of active ETFs, those which do not simply reproduce an index , is growth.
But individual investors are increasingly committing to contracting this type of vehicle via digital platforms or neobrokers (as opposed to traditional financial institutions), to the point that Investments in ETFs have increased by 33% since last year to reach a volume of 266 billion euros.according to data collected in the latest report prepared by exETF and BlackRock.
The commitment of companies such as Trade Republic, Scalable Capital, Revolut, N26 or through direct investments, knowing that they were able to benefit more easily from the attraction of large technological stocks.
This growth is mainly due to Germany, one of the markets where passive management has seen the highest penetration in recent years. And not only through the direct subscription of ETFs, but also through so-called investment plans, which have become very popular among Germans, in particular thanks to the capillarity carried out by companies such as Scalable Capital or TradeRepublic.
According to the aforementioned study, ETF trading via digital platforms reached 168 billion euros in volume in Germany24.4% more than last year, while assets invested in savings accounts increased by 11.4% to 15.6 billion. In the rest of continental Europe the growth percentage is higher, but the lower volume from which they started must be taken into account. Since last year they have seen an increase of almost 51%, up to 98 billion euros in direct contracts, while in savings plans the volume has doubled, up to 2 billion euros.
This interest in the passive management of investors through the subscription of investment accounts translates this year into 10.8 million plans contracted monthly in Europe, compared to 7.6 million in 2023, including 9.5 million from investors. Germans. These figures allow the specialized media exETF to ensure that its forecast of reaching 32 million accounts in 2028 will be achieved, with a savings volume estimated at 650 billion euros.
