By Kanchana Chakravarty
April 9 (Reuters) – Assets under management for U.S. exchange-traded funds could more than double to $25 trillion by the end of this decade, Citigroup said on Thursday, as investors seek the increasingly popular asset class for low-cost, diversified exposure across markets.
As of March 2025, the U.S.-listed ETF industry’s total assets stood at about $10.4 trillion, according to Citi.
The Wall Street brokerage had previously forecast the industry’s AUM to hit $19 trillion by 2030 and $29 trillion by 2035.
It now expects more than $40 trillion by 2035.
“While these projections are more optimistic than our prior estimates, it still suggests ETFs will be in a more mature phase of AUM growth as flows (organic) and performance (inorganic) drivers will be more balanced than the previous ten years,” Citi said.
A large chunk of the growth could be driven by active ETFs, investments into which are expected to outpace their passive peers, the brokerage said.
Active ETFs are among the fastest-growing segments of the ETF market, attracting investors with flexible strategies and lower costs. Many aim to outperform a benchmark or deliver a specific investment outcome, while passive ETFs seek to track an index and mirror its performance.
“Our base case expects Active’s market share of ETF AUM to double in ten years as these products gain (a) greater share of industry flows,” Citi said in a note on Thursday.
Other factors supporting growth within the industry include product innovation, easier ETF launch regulation, adoption of more sophisticated strategies, and demand for flexible, tax-efficient investment solutions, Citigroup said.
ETFs tracking U.S. equities have recorded more than $75.8 billion in inflows so far this year, building on more than $1.1 trillion worth of inflows seen in the last two years, according to data from LSEG Lipper.
Meanwhile, U.S.-domiciled ETFs have recorded more than $435 billion worth of inflows so far this year, as per LSEG Lipper data.
(Reporting by Kanchana Chakravarty in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
