Systematic investment strategies are attracting almost twice as much money as traditional discretionary stock pickers in Europe’s rapidly expanding active equity ETF market, according to new figures from Morningstar.
Systematic active equity ETFs attracted €12bn of net inflows during the first nine months of 2026, compared with €6.7bn for discretionary strategies. Systematic funds use quantitative models and predefined rules to select and weight investments, rather than relying primarily on individual fund managers’ judgement. They are variously called “beta plus”, “index plus” and “shy active” funds.
The findings provide further evidence that much of the growth in active ETFs is coming from investors seeking a middle ground between conventional index trackers and traditional active management.
The wider European active ETF market continues to set records. Morningstar reported net inflows of €28.9bn in the first nine months of 2026, already exceeding the €26.8bn attracted throughout 2025. Assets reached €117.1bn at the end of September, although active products still account for just 3.4% of the European ETF market.
Active ETFs captured 8.1% of total European ETF inflows during the period, compared with 7.6% in 2025. JPMorgan Asset Management retained a 41.4% market share of active ETFs at the end of September.
Our view
David Batchelor, senior analyst at QuotedData, said: “These figures reinforce a point we have been making for some time: the active ETF boom is not necessarily a revival of traditional high-conviction stock picking. Investors increasingly appear interested in strategies that make measured, systematic departures from an index, rather than handing managers complete freedom over their portfolios.
“Not every systematic strategy is a closet index tracker, and there remains considerable demand for discretionary management. However, Morningstar’s figures suggest that the strongest growth in active equity ETFs is coming from approaches that sit somewhere between the two traditional camps. For established active managers entering the ETF market, the challenge is increasingly to demonstrate what their approach offers beyond a relatively inexpensive, rules-based alternative.”
