Rokos Capital Management founder Chris Rokos has become the latest ultra-wealthy individual to leave the UK, relocating to Greece in a move that threatens significant tax losses.
Rokos, who paid more than £300m in tax last year alone, is understood to be relocating to Athens following Greece’s introduction of a flat annual tax for wealthy foreigners.
The Mediterranean country now allows high-net-worth foreign residents to pay a fixed annual sum of around 100,000 euros, roughly £86,000, on all overseas income.
The Eton and Oxford-educated investor’s departure could cost the UK Exchequer around £330m each year, based on the Sunday Times Rich List’s estimation of his last UK tax bill.
Rokos ranked third among the highest individual taxpayers in the UK, according to the same Sunday Times study, and holds an estimated net worth of more than £2bn.
His move to Greece follows a broader pattern of billionaires and centimillionaires leaving the UK after being targeted at consecutive Budgets under the Labour government.
Goldman Sachs vice president Richard Gnodde previously left the UK in response to the government’s crackdown on non-dom tax status, as reported by City AM in 2025.
Other wealthy figures to have departed include Aston Villa co-owner Nassef Sawiris, Checkout.com founder Guillaume Pousaz, and steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal.
The Labour government has faced sustained criticism from senior City figures over its approach to taxing the wealthy, with multiple policy changes fuelling what critics describe as a wealth exodus.
Those changes include ending the non-dom regime, scrapping a VAT exemption on private schools, raising capital gains tax rates, and announcing a new levy on high-value properties.
Scores of Labour MPs have publicly endorsed a full wealth tax that would impose a two per cent annual levy on assets valued at £10m or more.
Tax experts and economists have warned such a levy would deter investment, generate lost revenue, and create significant administration costs across Whitehall.
Cabinet minister Wes Streeting suggested a higher capital gains tax levy would represent a “wealth tax that works,” pointing to that as a more probable near-term measure.
Conservative campaigners have countered that raising capital gains tax above its current higher rate of 22 per cent would actually reduce Treasury receipts, as investors held assets rather than selling.
Record capital gains tax revenues of £127bn were collected in the 2024/25 tax year, representing an 82 per cent increase on the prior year.
Simon French, chief economist at Panmure Liberum, said: “The dynamic, behavioural effects of policy are more significant with capital gains taxes than almost any other part of the tax system.”
French added: “The latest data pours cold water on the idea that there is a pot of recurring tax revenue to go for here.”
Chancellor John Healey stated his support for wealth creation in a speech on the UK economy, while Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham also said he wanted wealth creators to remain in the country.
Rokos Capital Management declined to comment on the founder’s departure, and the Treasury was also approached for a response.