Schroders Enters Europe with Two Active ETFs, Focusing on Global Equities and Corporate Bonds

Schroders, the British asset manager, is leveraging its over twenty years of experience in active management and the expertise gained with Active ETFs in the US and Australia to launch two flagship strategies in ETF format for the UCITS market.

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By ETFWorld.co.uk

Johanna Kyrklund, Group Chief Investment Officer of Schroders

Schroders is taking a significant step in the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) universe with the launch of its first two active ETFs for the European market. Today’s announcement marks a strategic expansion of the group’s offering, combining the flexibility and accessibility of ETFs with its core business: active investment management.

The two new products – the Schroder Global Equity Active UCITS ETF and the Schroder Global Investment Grade Corporate Bond Active UCITS ETF – are designed to complement the existing range and offer investors more direct access at competitive costs to two of Schroders’ leading global strategies, which until now have been largely available through traditional investment vehicles or mandates.

Global Expertise and Established Strategies

The European launch does not occur in a vacuum. Schroders already boasts a decade of experience in active ETFs, having launched the first such products in Australia in 2016 and subsequently in the United States. This move allows the company to capitalize on its recognized expertise in active management – over 220 years of history – within the ETF wrapper, which is increasingly in demand from investors.

“Schroders is bringing more than 220 years of active investment expertise into European active ETFs for the first time. We are building on the decade of experience we already have offering active ETFs by bringing two of our world-class equities and fixed income strategies to a broader audience, through European domiciled ETF wrappers. “In today’s dynamic market environment, access to market-leading active management expertise is crucial. These launches will ensure our clients can benefit from the flexibility and accessibility of an ETF wrapper, as well as the potential superior returns delivered by our active investing edge.” commented Johanna Kyrklund, Group Chief Investment Officer of Schroders.

The Two ETFs in Detail

1. Schroder Global Equity Active UCITS ETF: This ETF replicates the QEP Global Core strategy, which manages approximately $24 billion. The strategy, led by Lukas Kamblevicius, Co-Head of Schroders’ Quantitative Equity Products (QEP) team, invests in a broad global universe of around 15,000 stocks. Its objective is to generate consistent excess performance relative to the MSCI World Index, with lower relative risk. It boasts a 25-year track record, having outperformed the benchmark in 20 of the 25 calendar years, with an annualized relative return of 1.0% (before fees).

2. Schroder Global Investment Grade Corporate Bond Active UCITS ETF: This ETF provides access to a $3 billion investment-grade bond strategy, previously available only to institutional investors via mandates. The bottom-up strategy combines fundamental research and systematic analysis and aims to outperform the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Corporate Index (USD hedged). The team has a six-year track record with annualized relative returns of 1.4%.

Distribution and Listing

The Schroder Global Equity Active UCITS ETF will debut on the German XETRA exchange as early as September 26, followed shortly by its bond counterpart. Both products will subsequently also be listed on the London Stock Exchange, SIX Swiss Exchange, and Borsa Italiana, with multiple share classes (in USD, GBP, EUR, and CHF) to meet the needs of investors across Europe. Currency-hedged share classes for the bond ETF are expected in the fourth quarter of 2025.

A Strategic Move

“This key milestone demonstrates our ability to harness the scale of Schroders’ investment and operating platforms to enhance the distribution access points for existing and new clients. This allows us to offer our active investment edge in a new wrapper” said Meagen Burnett, Chief Financial Officer of Schroders. ““Our European active ETF launches will enable us to reach more investors and further reinforce our commitment to moving at pace and offering the variety of investment tools and differentiated returns our clients increasingly expect.” “

With this launch, Schroders is positioning itself strongly in the growing segment of European Active ETFs, offering its clients – both institutional and retail – the combination of active management tradition with the efficiency and transparency of ETFs.

Source: ETFWorld.co.uk