“While passive ETFs have dominated, the last five years have seen growing interest in active solutions in Europe,” said Peter De Coensel, co-CEO of DPAM and global head of investment management. On 13 May 2026, Indosuez Wealth Management announced its entry into the European active ETF market, with plans to launch four products in the second half of 2026 and integrate them into an ecosystem supported by its partner.
Initial product range and “quantamental” strategy
The initial launch will include four distinct strategies designed to provide a “blend of beta and controlled alpha” — combining broad market exposure with moderate active risk-taking. This range includes three “enhanced” ETF strategies—two actively managed equity funds focused on Europe and the US and one targeting EMU sovereign bonds—as well as an “unconstrained” global equity ETF aimed at “delivering long-term capital growth across international markets.”
The enhanced products seek to generate excess returns using quantitative screening models combined with discretionary fundamental analysis — a process the firm describes as “quantamental.”
Active ETF claims face track record questions
While these specific ETF vehicles are new, Indosuez asserted that the underlying investment process is well-established. The firm claimed the underlying strategies have generated annualised outperformance of 1% to 3% over 12 years, although no supporting performance documentation was provided.
Available historical fund data, however, presents a more mixed picture. While Indosuez Funds-America Opportunities (equities) outperformed its benchmark, the MSCI USA, by around 100 basis points over 10 years, Indosuez Funds-Europe Opportunities delivered performance broadly in line with its benchmark over a shorter three-year period (short observation periods can be noisy).
Meanwhile, DPAM Bond EUR Government achieved an annualised outperformance of 43 basis points over 10 years relative to the JPMorgan EMU Government Bond Index. Indosuez also noted that its new global opportunistic equity active ETF is “not directly linked to any existing strategy.”
Active equity ETFs accept wider performance wings
The core equity funds usually display tracking errors of around 2.5% to 3%, but Indosuez targets a level of 1.5% for their new equity ETF and “even lower” for the bond ETF. Lower tracking-error targets suggest the firm is positioning the enhanced ETFs closer to benchmark-tracking products rather than high-conviction active strategies.
However, he stressed that the tracking error of the global equity strategy will be more significant. “Clients should expect periods of underperformance and periods of ‘stellar’ outperformance versus the benchmark,” De Coensel said in an interview.
The launch of our active ETF activities is not driven by a belief that ETFs will replace our traditional funds
De Coensel said the strategies may deviate from benchmarks both at the sector level and in individual stock selection within sectors. The enhanced equity ETFs target outperformance of 25 to 50 basis points against their respective benchmarks (MSCI EMU, MSCI USA). No targets were provided for the other two.
Target assets and strategic cannibalisation
Indosuez plans to seed the launch with €500m, drawing from its existing €55bn in discretionary portfolio management mandates. “The launch of our active ETF activities is not driven by a belief that ETFs will replace our traditional funds,” stressed De Coensel.
Although De Coensel argued the products would complement existing discretionary portfolios, he acknowledged they could cannibalise parts of the firm’s traditional fund range — a challenge facing many active managers entering the ETF market.
The firm has set an ambitious goal of reaching €1.5bn in assets by 2028–2029. While some academics argue that low fees and large fund sizes can hinder alpha generation, De Coensel maintained that “fund size should not matter” in either fixed income or equities. He argued that the key determinants of success are the liquidity of the underlying assets and the quality of the investment team, pointing to the firm’s management of a €5.2bn emerging market debt fund that has delivered annualised outperformance of 2.8% since 2013.
Fees are expected to range between 25 and 30 basis points, with the unconstrained active ETF priced at a premium. That would place the products competitively against many European active ETFs, while remaining more expensive than traditional passive index trackers.
The hazard and merit of daily transparency
A central theme of the launch is the commitment to daily transparency, a feature that distinguishes ETFs from traditional mutual funds. While this transparency is a response to client demand, it introduces potential risks such as “front-running” or arbitrage by sophisticated market participants using high-frequency trading systems.
Asked whether daily disclosure might expose the funds to predatory trading, especially as they grow in size, De Coensel acknowledged these risks but maintained that transparency ultimately makes price discovery “more efficient”. Indosuez believes that robust risk management and monitoring of concentration risks—using tools to stress-test portfolios against historical data—will mitigate these hazards.
Market positioning and distribution
Indosuez will rely on the “ETF-as-a-Service” platform of Amundi, a large player in the passive ETF space, to structure its active ETFs. The partnership also allows Indosuez to enter the ETF market without building internal ETF infrastructure from scratch.
Indosuez does not see the initiative as direct competition with Amundi’s passive ETF range. Instead, the firm positions the offering as complementary to discretionary portfolio management while also targeting a broader demographic of self-directed investors.
The initiative reflects a broader shift among European wealth managers toward ETF structures that combine active management with lower costs and greater transparency, even as questions remain over whether consistent alpha can survive inside increasingly scalable vehicles.
