Active ETFs have been one of the biggest trends in ETFs this year. Globally, about half of all new ETF launches in 2025 have been active funds.
While ETFs have historically tracked indexes or exchanges, regulatory changes in recent years have made it easier to launch actively managed ETFs, thus the recent surge. Also, stock market volatility has increased the demand for funds that are managed by professionals.
The newest entrant is , the London-based asset manager, which introduced two new ETFs this week. They mark the first two active ETFs that Schroders has offered in Europe.
The two ETFs will be launched on Schroders new platform – Schroders ETF ICAV (Irish Collective Asset-Management Vehicle), which is registered in Ireland under the Irish ICAV Act. They are:
Schroder Global Equity Active UCITS ETF. This ETF seeks to provide capital growth and income in excess of the index.
Schroder Global Investment Grade Corporate Bond Active UCITS ETF. This fund seeks to provide income and capital growth in excess of the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Corporate Index.
Leveraging Successful Strategies
The new equity fund will be managed by Lukas Kamblevicius and is the ETF version of the Schroder QEP Global Core strategy, which has a 25-year track record and $24 billion in assets. It encompasses a global universe of approximately 15,000 stocks with a focus on delivering consistent outperformance across a range of markets with lower relative risk to its MSCI World benchmark. The strategy has outperformed in 20 of 25 calendar years since inception.
Likewise, the Schroder Global Investment Grade Corporate Bond Active UCITS ETF is based on an existing Shroder investment fund, which has $3 billion in assets. It will be managed by Francois Carrie, Julien Houdain, and Martin Couke. This is a pure global investment grade strategy without exposure to high yield securities or other bonds. It has a six-year track record with 1.4% annualized relative returns.
“Schroders is bringing more than 220 years of active investment expertise into the European ETF market,” Johanna Kyrklund, group CFO at Schroders, said. “We are leveraging a decade of ETF experience to offer two of our most successful equity and fixed income strategies to a broader audience, ensuring clients benefit from the accessibility of ETFs combined with the potential outperformance of active management.”
Expanding Market Reach
These two ETFs will initially be listed on the XETRA Deutsche Borse index. They will also be listed on the London Stock Exchange, Borsa Italiana, and the SIX Swiss Exchange.
“This launch demonstrates our ability to harness the scale of Schroders’ investment platform to create new distribution channels,” Meagen Burnett, CFO at Schroders, said. “By extending our ETF range into Europe, we are reinforcing our commitment to innovation and ensuring investors can access a variety of tools to meet their evolving needs.”
Schroders already has active funds in Australia and the U.S., the latter through its partner, the Hartford Funds.