Alex Gerko

Spear’s Review

With a contribution of over $485 million to the UK's coffers, Alex Gerko lays claim to the title of the UK’s biggest taxpayer – a billionaire originally from Moscow who earned a fortune through trading. 

He dethroned Bet365’s Denise Coates to take the top spot in The Sunday Times’s annual list of the country’s highest tax payers – with his tax payment averaging £1.3 million for every day of the year. He founded XTX Markets in 2015 – a prominent algorithmic trading firm working with institutional clients – following time spent working as an angel investor and in foreign exchange. 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, despite keeping a low media profile.