#604
American Giants Take Europe
Published:
Aug 16, 2025
Author:
Sarah Parsons Wolter
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The European asset management landscape is starting to look less like a level playing field and more like a Champions League final…except the trophy is measured in trillions of dollars and the home teams are watching from the sidelines. Meanwhile, BlackRock, Vanguard, and a handful of other US giants have more than doubled their European assets under management in the past decade, recently reaching $4.9t. Local champions have grown respectably, but nowhere near as quickly. The draw? Cheap tracker funds and the quiet inevitability of passive investing’s rise.
The dominance of the US "super league" is rooted in a formula Europe has yet to match: massive home markets, aggressive regional expansion, and an unrelenting focus on the growth engines of passive and private markets. BlackRock alone commands $1.4t in ETFs and trackers in Europe, while Vanguard, making its debut in London in 2009, has ballooned to $442b. At this point the three largest US firms collectively control half of all US-affiliated AUM in Europe. European players, fragmented and smaller, face calls to consolidate not just for scale, but to “compete differently”.
Yet, the narrative has not entirely shifted to passive. Some US groups remain committed to active strategies, seeing opportunity in the shrinking field of “strongly resourced” active managers. JPMorgan Asset Management, for instance, is doubling down on trying to outperform markets rather than hug the index. Still, even optimists acknowledge that the passive tide is inexorable, and that the active “winners” will likely be few in number.
Ironically, even as US firms hoover up European assets, many investors are keen to diversify away from US-heavy portfolios, citing stretched valuations in American equities. Although US firms have gained significant ground, several long-established European players, including UBS, Amundi, and DWS, still maintain substantial market share in the region’s mutual fund and ETF sectors. It’s a reminder that in asset management, like football, the home team advantage is enduring.
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