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With $13.98 trillion in assets, the global ETF market continues to thrive. Europe has seen over 40% growth throughout 2025. The potential for ETF opportunities is enormous, given that Europe has a population that exceeds the U.S. and shares similarities in terms of wealth demographics.
On February 11, 2026, HANetf hosted a webinar discussing how to enter the European UCITS ETF market. The panel included London Stock Exchange’s Alex Watkins, Susquehanna’s Sam West, A&L Goodbody LLP’s Stephen Carson, US Bank’s Tony O’Brien, VettaFi Head of Business Development in EMEA & Asia, Axel Belorde, and HANetf’s Jason Griffin.
Europe represents an enormous array of opportunities for ETF issuers, but there are a host of considerations asset managers need to make when entering the European UCITS ETF market.
Launching an ETF is complicated anywhere, but European ETFs come with their own distinct challenges. These include:
The European Union’s “Undertaking for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities” directive means that ETFs seeking to be tradable to retail investors in the European Union must adhere to certain guidelines. These include sticking to a diversification standard of not holding more than 10% of the net asset value of the product in a single holding. There are additional regulatory and liquidity requirements. Though it is possible for some European retail investors to access non-UCITS eligible ETFs, it is not straightforward or simple.
UCITS ETFs follow strict diversification and safety standards. As a result, they can be established in one region and then be sold freely across other European Union markets. “It is permitted for sale to retail investors,” Carson said. “It does come with it a range of risk management, diversification requirements, etc. But there is still quite a bit of product development flexibility within that framework.”
Data is important throughout the process of establishing an ETF. Whether it’s the data used to create a starting universe or build the index or the data around investors and buyers, it plays a critical role to the success or failure of an ETF.
Speaking to some of the big differences between Europe and the U.S., Belorde shared, “Europe, unlike the U.S., is a multilingual market.” Though there is some universality around the Irish UCITS regime, Belorde noted that, compared to the U.S., “there are very different buyer personas, cultural aspects, that you can’t find in a deep and large market like in the U.S.”
For asset managers, speed to market is the primary differentiator, especially in thematic investing. As Belorde noted, launching even slightly behind a competitor can create a valuation gap of 'hundreds of millions.'
Belorde explained that owning media properties like ETF Trends and ETF Stream allows VettaFi access to what investors are researching and looking for in their investments.“There’s a lot more flexibility around behavioral analytics in the U.S. in terms of regulatory framework compared to using that data in Europe,” Belorde noted.
These insights and best practices can be leveraged. Though European investors have distinct behavioral personas, the investing population as a whole shares patterns and tendencies with U.S. investors. They are faster to warm to some investment trends and slower to embrace others, but in aggregate they ultimately make similar decisions. Belorde offered that European investors have been quicker to embrace automation and AI than U.S. investors were, with European defence investing driving a lot of that behavioral push. The myth is that ideas migrate from the U.S. to Europe. According to Belorde, the reality is that Europe and the U.S. pass that baton back and forth, trading ideas and innovations.
With increased regulatory complexity in the EU, the issuers who can quickly spot a market need and then efficiently get a product to market have an edge. That makes it important for asset managers to work with an index partner who has access to lots of data and can rapidly backtest, iterate, and stand up a product. Belorde continued, “having the right data, the right partner on the end to end operations is extremely important. The legal framework, the authorization, the listings, the trading but also the distribution and marketing that makes a whole package.”
The current ETF market in Europe is hot, and there are certain kinds of products in particular that are drawing investor attention. According to the HANetf webinar, active strategies are starting to draw the same kind of attention in Europe that they are in the U.S., but there is also a rising interest in thematic ETFs. Referring to HANetf’s the Future of Defence UCITS ETF which is staked to VettaFi’s EQM Future of Defence Index, West noted, “In terms of demand for those, we’ve definitely seen an uptick. There were a couple of really well-timed launches last year in European defense. We’re really starting to see flows into thematic products picking up in the last 12 months.”
Belorde shared that though some ETFs come in with seed money that helps get them started, that’s not the case a majority of the time. “They need large ETFs to allocate large tickets because they've got all the concentration limits, right? So you need to think about very smartly coordinating between your sales force and your marketing [budget].” Issuers coming in with a fresh product with limited to no seed money must take advantage of their launch window to draw the attention of individual investors. That allows them to grow the ETF so larger buyers can jump in. Belorde emphasized the critical importance of working with a company that has expertise across operations, marketing, and distribution. “Reaching out at the right time to the right audience is absolutely key.”
The European ETF market is challenging to enter, but a UCITS ETF can be a boon for asset managers. The regulatory challenges and fragmented nature of the EU does create obstacles. However, it also means the market is ripe for innovative ETFs that can fill in gaps for investors. It is important to find an end-to-end strategic partner who can help stand up a product quickly and efficiently.
With $13.98 trillion in assets, the global ETF market continues to thrive. Europe has seen over 40% growth throughout 2025. The potential for ETF opportunities is enormous, given that Europe has a population that exceeds the U.S. and shares similarities in terms of wealth demographics.
On February 11, 2026, HANetf hosted a webinar discussing how to enter the European UCITS ETF market. The panel included London Stock Exchange’s Alex Watkins, Susquehanna’s Sam West, A&L Goodbody LLP’s Stephen Carson, US Bank’s Tony O’Brien, VettaFi Head of Business Development in EMEA & Asia, Axel Belorde, and HANetf’s Jason Griffin.
Europe represents an enormous array of opportunities for ETF issuers, but there are a host of considerations asset managers need to make when entering the European UCITS ETF market.
Launching an ETF is complicated anywhere, but European ETFs come with their own distinct challenges. These include:
The European Union’s “Undertaking for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities” directive means that ETFs seeking to be tradable to retail investors in the European Union must adhere to certain guidelines. These include sticking to a diversification standard of not holding more than 10% of the net asset value of the product in a single holding. There are additional regulatory and liquidity requirements. Though it is possible for some European retail investors to access non-UCITS eligible ETFs, it is not straightforward or simple.
UCITS ETFs follow strict diversification and safety standards. As a result, they can be established in one region and then be sold freely across other European Union markets. “It is permitted for sale to retail investors,” Carson said. “It does come with it a range of risk management, diversification requirements, etc. But there is still quite a bit of product development flexibility within that framework.”
Data is important throughout the process of establishing an ETF. Whether it’s the data used to create a starting universe or build the index or the data around investors and buyers, it plays a critical role to the success or failure of an ETF.
Speaking to some of the big differences between Europe and the U.S., Belorde shared, “Europe, unlike the U.S., is a multilingual market.” Though there is some universality around the Irish UCITS regime, Belorde noted that, compared to the U.S., “there are very different buyer personas, cultural aspects, that you can’t find in a deep and large market like in the U.S.”
For asset managers, speed to market is the primary differentiator, especially in thematic investing. As Belorde noted, launching even slightly behind a competitor can create a valuation gap of 'hundreds of millions.'
Belorde explained that owning media properties like ETF Trends and ETF Stream allows VettaFi access to what investors are researching and looking for in their investments.“There’s a lot more flexibility around behavioral analytics in the U.S. in terms of regulatory framework compared to using that data in Europe,” Belorde noted.
These insights and best practices can be leveraged. Though European investors have distinct behavioral personas, the investing population as a whole shares patterns and tendencies with U.S. investors. They are faster to warm to some investment trends and slower to embrace others, but in aggregate they ultimately make similar decisions. Belorde offered that European investors have been quicker to embrace automation and AI than U.S. investors were, with European defence investing driving a lot of that behavioral push. The myth is that ideas migrate from the U.S. to Europe. According to Belorde, the reality is that Europe and the U.S. pass that baton back and forth, trading ideas and innovations.
With increased regulatory complexity in the EU, the issuers who can quickly spot a market need and then efficiently get a product to market have an edge. That makes it important for asset managers to work with an index partner who has access to lots of data and can rapidly backtest, iterate, and stand up a product. Belorde continued, “having the right data, the right partner on the end to end operations is extremely important. The legal framework, the authorization, the listings, the trading but also the distribution and marketing that makes a whole package.”
The current ETF market in Europe is hot, and there are certain kinds of products in particular that are drawing investor attention. According to the HANetf webinar, active strategies are starting to draw the same kind of attention in Europe that they are in the U.S., but there is also a rising interest in thematic ETFs. Referring to HANetf’s the Future of Defence UCITS ETF which is staked to VettaFi’s EQM Future of Defence Index, West noted, “In terms of demand for those, we’ve definitely seen an uptick. There were a couple of really well-timed launches last year in European defense. We’re really starting to see flows into thematic products picking up in the last 12 months.”
Belorde shared that though some ETFs come in with seed money that helps get them started, that’s not the case a majority of the time. “They need large ETFs to allocate large tickets because they've got all the concentration limits, right? So you need to think about very smartly coordinating between your sales force and your marketing [budget].” Issuers coming in with a fresh product with limited to no seed money must take advantage of their launch window to draw the attention of individual investors. That allows them to grow the ETF so larger buyers can jump in. Belorde emphasized the critical importance of working with a company that has expertise across operations, marketing, and distribution. “Reaching out at the right time to the right audience is absolutely key.”
The European ETF market is challenging to enter, but a UCITS ETF can be a boon for asset managers. The regulatory challenges and fragmented nature of the EU does create obstacles. However, it also means the market is ripe for innovative ETFs that can fill in gaps for investors. It is important to find an end-to-end strategic partner who can help stand up a product quickly and efficiently.
