Hedge fund Marshall Wace is paying over £1m after stocking up on people
Marshall Wace, the London hedge fund jointly run by media baron Sir Paul Roderick Clucas Marshall has filed some accounts and they suggest that it's had a good year.
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Marshall Wace's accounts are not the most transparent. The fund is ultimately controlled by MW Group LLP, which is based in the Cayman Islands. However, two entities: Marshall Wace LLP and MWAM North America LLP have just filed accounts with Companies House in London. They look fine.
Marshall Wace LLP doesn't have any employees but it does have 25 partners and in the year ending February 2025, there were £651m of profits available for these partners to share, up from £192m the previous year.
Marshall Wace LLPs employees are to be found at another entity - Marshall Wace Asset Management Ltd - which has yet to file any accounts for 2025. However, MWAM North America LLP, does have 194 employees, and it paid them an average of £1.1m each in the year to February.
This seems very generous and puts pay at MWAM North America LLP above average pay at Millennium and Rokos, although like-for-like comparisons may not be valid. Turnover at MWAM doubled (to £423m). Profit at MWAM nearly tripled (to £180m). At the larger and more mysterious entity of Marshall Wace LLP, turnover was £1.4bn, which was double the previous year.
As Marshall Wace has grown, it's been adding admin and compliance people. As the chart below (from MWAM North America) shows, admin and compliance professionals now account for 43% of the total, up from 40% last year.
Bloomberg reported last week that Marshall Wace plans to start charging clients for the cost of hiring technology, trading and risk talent.
A Wall Street Journal profile of the fund in May noted that Marshall Wace manages $70bn and uses a "top secret algorithm to analyze tips" from rival hedge funds and banks using its Trade Optimized Portfolio System [TOPS]. Top performing ideas are rewarded with quarterly commissions.
The system has enabled Marshall Wace to keep its headcount lower than rivals. The WSJ said it employs 750 people in total; MWAM North America is a very partial view.
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