RIAs riding active ETFs into international and emerging markets
William Blair survey finds 56% of RIAs plan to boost active ETF allocations abroad amid mounting worries over US equity concentration.
Registered investment advisors are preparing to steer more client money overseas, and most say actively managed exchange-traded funds will carry it there, according to a new survey by William Blair Investment Management.
Fifty-six percent of the 200 US-based RIAs polled by the Chicago-based asset manager expect to raise their active ETF allocations to international and emerging markets over the next 12 months. No other vehicle in the survey came close, including passive ETFs, mutual funds, model portfolios and individual securities.
The findings arrive as advisors grow uneasy about how much client wealth rides on a single market. Nearly three in four respondents (73%) said investor portfolios are heavily concentrated in US equities, and 90% said international diversification matters more now than it did a year ago.
“Advisors aren’t stepping away from the U.S., but they are casting a wider net,” said Jay Lisowski, global head of product strategy and development at William Blair Investment Management.
Why active ETFs are winning the international mandate
Active ETFs let a portfolio manager select securities rather than replicate an index, while keeping the exchange-traded structure. Lisowski argued that matters more abroad, where index construction can leave gaps a passive fund simply inherits.
“[B]enchmarks across non-U.S. markets can have blind spots, including differing country classifications and inclusion rules,” he said. “Actively managed ETFs allow investors to make those portfolio decisions intentionally while maintaining the tax efficiency, liquidity, and transparency associated with the ETF structure.”
The survey’s tilt toward the wrapper fits a broader industry shift. Research from UMB Fund Services and FUSE Research Network found that active ETF adoption has tripled in five years, with active strategies holding roughly 12% of the $14.9 trillion US ETF market through April 2026, up from 4% in 2021. The same research showed 22% of advisors planned to reduce their use of active mutual funds.
Active strategies drew about $574 billion through the first nine months of 2026, close to 40% of all US-listed ETF flows despite holding just 13% of industry assets, according to the latest read by State Street Investment Management. Overall, US-listed ETF inflows reached a record $1.54 trillion through September, already surpassing the full-year 2025 total of $1.52 trillion.
Worldwide, global active ETF assets climbed to a record $2.59 trillion at the end of July, ETFGI data show.
Where RIAs see the strongest opportunities abroad
Asked to name up to three non-US markets with the best prospects over the next three to five years, advisors picked the UK most often, at 32%, followed by China at 28% and Canada at 26%. Japan and Germany each drew 24%, and India 17%. By region, Asia-Pacific, at 77%, and Europe, at 70%, far outpaced the Americas at 40% and the Middle East and Africa at 26%.
Flows already lean that way. Non-US equity ETFs gathered $30 billion in September, 36% of all equity ETF inflows while representing only 17% of equity ETF assets, State Street reported. Emerging markets ETFs posted net inflows in 19 of the past 20 months, supported by a 21% year-to-date gain compared with 12% for US stocks.
“While still attractive, the United States is no longer the only engine of economic growth and investment returns,” William Blair Chief Investment Strategist Olga Bitel said in a recent note.
What’s keeping US allocations sticky?
Advisors were candid about the challenges holding them back from international exposure. Geopolitical uncertainty was a barrier for 84%, while another 74% majority pointed to clients who prefer to keep America first.
Even so, 86% agreed that failing to raise international exposure over the next three to five years would amount to a missed opportunity for investors.
“The advisors we work with want resilient portfolios,” said Ryan Airola, head of North American intermediary distribution at William Blair. “In our view that means owning U.S. assets with conviction and complementing them with exposure to growth opportunities elsewhere.”