Frontier Statistics: Investment and Money Market Funds

A view on fund types and investor choices - September 2025

Background

The Irish Resident Investment and Money Market Fund Statistics (Funds Statistics) present comprehensive information that is collected and published on a quarterly basis, for all Irish-resident investment funds. The datasets detail stocks and transactions, with information on the scale, composition, geographical, and sectoral exposures of funds’ assets and liabilities.

Within the Fund Statistics, data on fund assets and liabilities are available with instrument type split and aggregated asset sector breakdown, and geography breakdown is also provided for fund liabilities. However, more detailed breakdowns by different fund category classifications are not published (e.g., actively and passively managed funds, Exchange-traded funds, classification under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation).

This Frontier Statistics series focuses on fund assets and provides a further breakdown by different fund categories and investment strategies. These breakdowns are derived by combining the Money Market and Investment Fund series with data from the most recent Fund Profile return. The annually submitted Fund Profile return captures key information on the investment policy, operation, and governance of Irish authorized investment funds, thereby allowing a deeper assessment into the structure and characteristics of Ireland’s fund sector.

Key Observations

  • While actively managed funds hold the majority (63%) of capital invested in Irish-domiciled funds, passively managed funds have significantly outpaced the growth of active funds over the last two years.
  • Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are the most popular choice among investors looking to add passive exposure and have approximately doubled in size over the last two years.
  • The assets under management (AUM) among investment funds that either promote ESG  (Environmental, Social and Governance) characteristics or invest in sustainable investment (SFDR Article 8 or 9) remain relatively low compared to funds that do not integrate ESG factors into investment decision-making (Article 6).

Publication note: This Frontier Statistics release page will be updated with new data on an annual basis. This page was last updated on 08 December 2025 with data up to September 2025. Historical data can be accessed in the data file at the end of this page.

Overview – Actively and passively managed funds

An active fund management strategy is one that seeks excess returns by focusing on individual security selection by the fund manager. A passive fund management strategy is one that seeks to track the performance of benchmark indexes, normally resulting in low levels of tracking error.


Key Indicator – Assets Under Management (AUM) of actively managed funds

Assets under management of actively managed funds were €3.73 trillion at the end of Q3 2025.

Key Indicator – Growth of passively managed funds

Assets under management of passively managed funds increased by €1 trillion between Q4 2022 and Q3 2025.

Chart 1 displays the total AUM of Irish-resident Investment and Money Market Funds, split by actively and passively managed funds, along with ETFs, at the end of Q3 2025. Actively managed funds represent 63% of total AUM, with ETFs comprising less than 2% of the Active fund assets. Within passively managed funds, ETFs comprise 80% of assets. This indicates that the majority of capital invested remains in active, non-ETF funds. In contrast, the landscape in ETF investing remains vastly concentrated in passive funds.

Chart 2 displays the growth of Irish-domiciled active and passive fund assets between Q1 2022 and Q3 2025. Active funds presented a significantly larger level of AUM throughout the period in comparison to passive funds and have experienced positive annual AUM growth rates of 5.4% in 2023 and 18.5% in 2024. While presenting a lower level of AUM, passive funds’ AUM growth rate outpaced that of active funds in both 2023 and 2024, increasing by 26.7% and 32.2%, and resulting in a compound asset growth rate of 29.4% for the two-year period - more than doubling that of active funds (11.8%). This trend suggests that investors have accepted benchmark-like returns and lower fees as opposed to seeking relative outperformance. 

Chart 3 displays the composition of active and passive fund assets by fund type at the end of Q3 2025. Equity and Bond funds are among the dominant fund types for passively managed funds, representing €1.6 trillion and €515 billion, while Mixed, Hedge, Real Estate and Other funds together account for only 2% of the Passive fund assets. Within actively managed funds, Equity, Bond and Money Market Fund assets represent 65% of assets.

Overview – Exchange-Traded Funds

Key Indicator – Exchange-Traded Funds Assets Under Management in Q3 2025

The total assets under management invested in Exchange-Traded Funds was €1.84 trillion in September 2025.

Chart 4 shows the growth of ETF funds domiciled in Ireland between Q1 2022 and Q3 2025. ETF assets under management, which stood at €940bn in Q1 2022, almost doubled within this time frame and reached €1,836bn in Q3 2025, presenting a compound annual growth rate of 21%. The share of Equity funds within ETF fund assets has increased by 5% over the share of Bond funds. Equity funds AUM represent €1.4tn of total ETF AUM and Bond funds €397bn. The substantial ETF AUM growth suggests that ETFs have recently become a very popular option for investors looking to gain exposure to financial markets.

Overview – Funds by SFDR classification

Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) (Regulation (EU) 2019/2088) requires financial market participants, including investment funds to disclose how they consider and integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) characteristics in their investment processes. According to the Regulation,

  • Article 6 financial products (i.e. products defined in Article 6 of the Regulation) do not integrate sustainability risks into their investment decision-making processes
  • Article 8 financial products promote environmental or social characteristics
  • Article 9 financial products pursue sustainable investment as their primary objective

Key Indicator – Article 8 & 9 assets

The total assets invested in funds which either promote ESG characteristics or pursue sustainable investment as its objective was €2.07 trillion in September 2025.

Chart 5 presents the growth of AUM of Investment and Money Market Funds between Q1 2022 and Q3 2025, split by the funds’ Sustainable Financial Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) Article 6, 8 & 9 classifications.  Article 6 Irish-domiciled funds, which do not integrate sustainability risks into the investment decision-making process, are the largest cohort by AUM between the three classifications, totaling to €3.87tn and representing 65% of total AUM at the end of Q3 2025.

The AUM for Article 8 Irish-domiciled funds, which promote ESG characteristics, was €2tn at the end of Q3 2025. Article 9 financial products, which pursue sustainable investment as their primary objective, have the lowest level of AUM among the three classifications, reaching only €36bn. The growth rates were similar across all classifications, and the share of the categories within the total AUM remained relatively unchanged during the period.

The relatively lower level of AUM among funds that take into account ESG characteristics suggests moderate adoption levels of ESG-focused strategies in the fund industry. However, their similar pace of growth compared to Article 6 funds suggests that there is growing popularity among such vehicles. 


Chart 7 displays the assets of the SFDR Article classified funds by their investment region destination, at the end of Q3 2025. Overall, the region with the highest capital inflow is the United States across all types of funds, receiving a total of €2.4tn. European Union is a more significant investment region for Article 8 and 9 funds than for Article 6 funds, accounting for more than 20% of their assets, compared to 15% for Article 6 funds.

 

Data

The files below contain the data within the charts above, including historical data. Investment and Money Market Fund Frontier Statistics Tables | xlsx 34 KB

Background

The Investment and Money Market Funds Frontier Statistics publication presents data on Irish-resident investment and money market fund assets by different fund category classifications (e.g., fund type, actively and passively managed funds, exchange-traded funds, classification under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation) and counterparty country and sector. Thereby, this data enhances the analysis within the official series of Irish Resident Investment and Money Market Funds Statistics (Fund Statistics), applying information on different fund classifications from the Fund Profile return on the fund assets data available in the Fund Statistics.

This data is published for the first time as a Frontier Statistics release, indicating that the methods and the data are subject to revision. This series will be updated on an annual basis.

Coverage and Scope

Data on money market and investment funds in this Frontier Statistics is subject to the same coverage and scope as in the Fund Statistics. The Fund Statistics covers all Irish-resident funds and includes quarterly stock and transactions data, with information on the scale, composition, geographical and sectoral exposures of funds’ assets and liabilities. Fund Statistics captures aggregates for sectors only and breaks down stocks and transactions by geography only for fund liabilities. This Frontier Statistics relates exclusively to fund assets.

The Annual Fund Profile V3 return collects essential information relevant to the investment policy, operation and governance of all Irish authorized investment funds, The return requires funds to state whether they are actively or passively managed, as well as their categorization as specified under the SFDR. This fund-level return is collected for supervision purposes.

Data Checks and Revisions

As part of the Frontier Statistics series, the Investment and Money Market Fund publication will undergo annual revisions. The data and methodology are subject to change as the Fund Statistics data and the Fund Profile information collected by the funds are subject to change. Fund statistics data and the Fund Profile of investment funds are subject to change, therefore the analysis will be repeated annually to ensure timeliness and accuracy in the published series.

Definitions

Irish Resident Investment and Money Market Fund Statistics:

The Irish Resident Investment and Money Market Fund Statistics present comprehensive information collected on all Irish-resident money market and investment funds. The data details stock and transactions on a monthly basis for Money Market Funds, and on a quarterly basis for investment funds, with information on the scale, composition, geographical and sectoral exposures of funds’ assets and liabilities.

Fund Profile V3 Return:

The Fund Profile V3 return is required to be completed by all investment and money market funds authorized or seeking authorization in Ireland, on the approval of the sub-fund/standalone fund and thereafter annually. The return provides information about the fund’s investment objectives, operations, structure and governance. The Fund Profile V3 return will be replaced by a new Fund Metadata Return after Q4 2025.

Assets Under Management:

The total market value of all investments the fund holds on behalf of its investors.

Tracking Error:

An investment fund’s tracking error is defined as the standard deviation of the difference between a fund and benchmark returns. This measures to what extent a fund’s return follows its benchmark returns. Low levels of tracking error indicate minimal differences between a fund and benchmark returns and are commonly observed in passive strategies. In contrast, active strategies are expected to present higher levels of tracking error.

Non-Financial Sector:

Non-Financial Sector refers to ESA 2010 sectors S.11 and S.14. These entities include non-financial corporations (NFC) and households (including non-profit institutions serving households).

Other Financial Sector:

Other Financial Sector refers to ESA 2010 sectors S.123, S.124, S.125, S.126, S.127, S128, and S.129. This includes central counterparties (CCP), financial auxiliaries, financial vehicle corporations (FVC), special purpose vehicles (SPV), investment funds and money market funds, insurance corporations, pension funds, and other financial intermediaries.

Government:

Government refers to ESA 2010 sectors S.121, S.1311, S.1312, S1313 and S.1314. These entities include the Central Bank, Central Government, Local Government, State Government, and Social Security Funds subsectors.

Banks:

Banks in this dataset refer to Deposit-Taking Corporations (ESA 2010 sector S.122).

Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF):

Exchange-Traded Funds are funds containing at least one unit or share class which is traded throughout the day on at least one regulated market or multilateral trading facility with at least one market maker that takes action to ensure that the stock exchange value of its units or shares does not significantly vary from its net asset value and where applicable its indicative net asset value.

Compound Annual Growth Rate (CARG):

The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is the average annualized growth rate of investment. It is given by taking the ratio of Ending AUM value-to-Beginning AUM value and finding the ‘nth root’ of the ratio, where ‘n’ is the number of years.

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