Alex Gerko

Spear’s Review

With a contribution of over £462 million to the UK’s coffers, Alex Gerko ranks sixth in the 2025 Sunday Times Tax List – a drop from 2024, when he claimed the top spot at £664.5 million.

Gerko, a billionaire originally from Moscow who earned a fortune through trading, founded his algorithmic trading firm, XTX Markets, in 2015 following time spent working as an angel investor and in FX trading. Early on in his career, he worked as an equities trader at Deutsche Bank.  

Regularly dubbed a ‘math whiz’ in the press, Gerko completed PhD studies in the subject in the early 2000s in Moscow, although he later renounced his Russian citizenship. 

Along with his family, Gerko is actively involved in philanthropy, including supporting a UK-based maths teaching initiative. He is an advocate of a wealth tax and has stated his willingness to pay ‘a ton’ for the public good, though it seems he will not hesitate to challenge HMRC when he deems it necessary.

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