The Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) of DWS are making a significant contribution to the growth of the German asset manager. The assets under management of the firm, in which Deutsche Bank holds an 80 percent stake, increased in 2025 by 73 billion euro to the record sum of 1,085 billion euro. Two thirds of the inflow of 51 billion euro was driven by demand for the in-house Xtrackers ETFs.
“The ETFs are really going through the roof at the moment,” said Sidi Kleefeld, head of Xtrackers Sales Advisory & Strategy. This is particularly true for the German market, which, with a volume of around 500 billion euro, is the largest in Europe. “Young Germans in particular are finding their way to ETFs,” said Kleefeld.
Passive index funds now account for about 30 percent of DWS’s assets under management. In Europe—with an ETF market of approximately 2,700 billion euro—DWS has a market share of more than 10 percent. Only iShares of US-based Blackrock (41 percent) and France’s Amundi (almost 13 percent) are larger. Outside Europe, DWS is smaller, but business is also solid there, with, for example, 25 billion euro in assets under management in the US.
In Europe, ETFs are popular everywhere, but preferences differ somewhat by country, according to Kleefeld. “It will come as no surprise that in Germany, as elsewhere, ETFs tracking major, well-known equity indices such as the MSCI World and MSCI Emerging Markets are favorites. In addition, there is a slight home bias among investors who choose ETFs that track, for example, the German DAX index or German government bonds (Bunds). Furthermore, thematic ETFs such as the Artificial Intelligence & Big Data ETF are popular.”
According to Kleefeld, this home bias can also be seen in other countries. British investors, for example, allocate more to FTSE 100 ETFs. In Scandinavia and the Benelux, there is relatively strong demand for sustainable products (ESG). In Italy, bond ETFs have traditionally played a larger role than in other European markets.
Difference between institutional and retail investors
According to Kleefeld, clear differences can also be observed between institutional investors and retail investors. Professional investors primarily use ETFs as building blocks for their portfolios and invest in ETFs that cover specific segments of the equity or bond market. Retail investors more often choose broad global equity indices. However, a relatively safe interest rate product such as the Xtrackers Overnight Rate EUR ETF is now also in high demand, whereas in the past it was typically a product for professionals. This money market ETF has now grown, particularly among retail investors, into one of DWS’s largest passive funds, with assets under management of almost 20 billion euro.
In analyst circles, there are occasional doubts about whether too many ETFs are coming to market. There are many thousands worldwide. Nevertheless, Jennifer Schmitz, Senior Xtrackers ETF Sales Strategist, sees the growth trend continuing, a trend that was already underway when DWS launched its first proprietary ETFs twenty years ago. “It is difficult to single out the most important milestones since then. We have tried to continuously enrich the ETF market with innovations. For example, in 2008—long before actively managed ETFs became widespread—we launched the Xtrackers Portfolio ETF, a multi-asset ETF with an active component.”
According to her, DWS was also the first ETF provider to offer the possibility of managing the US weighting within the portfolio separately toward neutral, overweight, or underweight. In total, Xtrackers now offers hundreds of different ETFs and ETCs (Exchange Traded Commodities). “When we see a development in the market that we believe will generate demand, we try to meet it with a product,” and according to her, the end of the growth is not yet in sight.
Although there is considerable criticism in the market regarding bond ETFs, because countries or companies with the largest debt receive the largest weighting in an ETF, Schmitz pointed precisely to that segment as a growth market. According to her, these ETFs can serve as a stabilizing factor in a portfolio.
DWS also expects the segment of active ETFs to grow at an above-average pace in the coming period. “There is a large number of new players here. In addition to traditional ETF providers, these include managers who previously focused exclusively on active management, US asset managers, as well as entirely new providers. We expect that, alongside the main users to date—professional fund investors and asset managers—retail investors will also show increasing interest in actively managed ETFs.”
Finally, in Germany in particular, there is keen anticipation regarding possible reforms of the pension system. It is expected that the Federal Government will present a proposal that encourages Germans to save more for retirement in addition to the state pension. For asset managers, this could open up a gigantic market. DWS is therefore working on various long-term ETFs specifically designed to respond to this development.