Investors forge ahead with ETF innovation and active management amid ongoing market volatility

Brown Brothers Harriman’s latest Global ETF Investor Survey paints a picture of investors turning to exchange‑traded funds for both stability and a new wave of product innovation as markets remain volatile. According to the report by BBH, 96% of professional investors say they will raise their ETF allocations over the next 12 months, a level that matches last year’s record and underlines the vehicle’s central role in institutional portfolios.

The survey, conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of BBH and covering 325 professional ETF investors across the United States, Greater China and Europe, finds accelerated interest in actively managed ETF strategies and expanded access to less liquid asset classes. Almost all respondents , 99% , indicated they would consider private markets ETFs as a means of gaining exposure to private assets within an ETF wrapper, with every European respondent reportedly open to the concept, according to BBH. Industry watchers say that such demand reflects a desire for the operational simplicity and liquidity profile ETFs can offer relative to traditional private funds.

Views on active management vary across the materials BBH circulated. One release notes that 98% of professional investors expect to boost allocations to active ETFs, while other BBH summaries report two-thirds of participants preferring active over passive approaches for the year ahead. The survey also shows that a majority expect active ETF assets to expand substantially from today’s levels; 94% told BBH they believe active ETF assets, which BBH says are approaching $2 trillion, will exceed $10 trillion within a decade, and 77% predicted that threshold could be reached within seven years.

That momentum is prompting portfolio shifts: more than half of respondents told BBH they plan to reduce holdings in index-based ETFs, and nearly half said they will pare back allocations to both index and actively managed mutual funds. Investors surveyed also signalled plans to diversify ETF exposure into income and dividend products (33%), sector and thematic funds (28%), defined‑outcome funds (26%) and money market ETFs (20%).

BBH’s findings indicate rising willingness to experiment with ETF structures. Eighty‑two percent of those polled said they would contemplate ETF share classes of mutual funds, a move that could blur traditional distinctions between fund formats and expand distributors’ toolkit. At the same time, 58% of respondents expressed scepticism that tokenisation will bring about fundamental change to financial markets. Interest in cryptocurrency ETFs was more modest: 17% intend to invest in them, and respondents’ performance expectations for crypto assets have cooled sharply since last year.

Geography remains an important differentiator. BBH highlights continued leadership by the U.S. in ETF adoption, notable growth in Greater China, and a European focus on income, diversification and risk management as regulatory developments weigh on product choice.

Tim Huver, Managing Director on BBH’s ETF Servicing Team, is quoted in the BBH materials saying: “ETF issuers are innovating to meet the evolving needs of today’s investors. The next phase of ETF product growth will look very different from the prior decade, with greater emphasis on active management, expanded access to new asset classes, and the operational sophistication required to support more complex strategies at scale.”

Several industry figures provided context for the trends. According to commentary from Deborah Fuhr of ETFGI and from BBH’s Elias Haddad included with the survey release, macroeconomic conditions and ongoing product development are likely to shape ETF flows through 2026 and beyond.

BBH also reports that 63% of respondents expect to work with a larger number of ETF issuers and that 65% view ETF providers as differentiating themselves through superior client service and support. The firm’s publicity notes that it has been servicing ETFs for more than two decades and frames the survey as evidence of persistent investor appetite for innovation within the ETF ecosystem.

The full 2026 Global ETF Investor Survey is available from BBH. The survey sample comprised institutional investors, financial advisers, fund managers, private banks and wealth managers drawn from the three regions covered. The company’s statements and survey data should be read as BBH’s presentation of investor sentiment rather than as investment advice.