DRW raised pay to £340k per head in London after hiring

Last year was not the best of years for Don Wilson’s electronic trading firm-cum family office, at least if its London office is anything to go by. DRW’s primary UK entity swung from a £6.2m profit in 2024 to a £3.5m operating loss in 2025. This hasn’t stopped the firm from hiring, or from compensating its traders.

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Accounts for 2025, released via companies house show that ‘DRW UK Partners LLP’ increased headcount by 54 to 376 people. Headcount grew by 36 people in its technology division and 20 in trading, but DRW trimmed headcount in operations.

Compensation per head increased last year despite the operating loss. Employees earned an average of £321k in 2024 in 'wages and salaries' versus £340.9k in 2025. Total staff expenses were up £30.9m, equivalent to roughly three quarters of the additional expenses DRW UK Partners had last year. An FX swing and a VAT write-off account for the majority of the other additional expenses.

DRW UK Partners LLP provides support services to DRW, rather than acting as a separate entity, so it's not clear exactly how its trading activities performed. DRW has two other visible entities, 'DRW Global Markets Ltd' and 'DRW Investments (UK) Limited', which made a combined profit of £1.2m

Elsewhere, some of DRW's other traders have had more visible issues. The FT reported in June that it parted ways with its North American head of power and natural gas trading after the firm made an adjusted loss of $176m in the first quarter of 2026.

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