The latest moves and appointments in wealth management in the UK, continental Europe, the Middle East and select international locations.

GAM Investments
GAM Investments has appointed former Pacific Asset Management figure Vladimir Kobelev as a senior investment analyst on the GAM Systematic Alternative Risk Premia team. He is based in London and will report to Paolo Scripelliti, co-head of alternative risk premia.

In this role, Kobelev will join the team responsible for applying a disciplined research process to designing, systematically implementing and cost-effectively trading risk premia. GAM Systematic’s Alternative Risk Premia team typically focuses on approximately 15 risk premia strategies across the style categories of value, momentum and carry. 

At Pacific Asset Management, Kobelev was co-manager of alternative risk premia for four years. Prior to that, he spent nine years at Deutsche Bank, latterly as a director for interest rates and foreign exchange derivatives trading. Kobelev holds a PhD in physics from the Russian Academy of Sciences, and an MSc in computational finance from Carnegie Mellon University. He also holds a certificate in machine learning from Stanford University.

Algebris
Algebris Investments has appointed Sebastiano Pirro (pictured) as chief investment officer at the group level.

In his new role, Pirro will lead the investment team and focus on the evolution of the firm’s investment process across the range of liquid strategies developed by the firm. 

Pirro is retaining his responsibilities as portfolio manager of Algebris Financial Credit and Algebris IG Financial Credit. He will continue to report to Davide Serra, founder and chief executive. Pirro joined Algebris in 2012 after a first professional experience at JP Morgan. 

Davide Serra will step down as group CIO with immediate effect, to focus more closely on his CEO responsibilities.

Before jumping into the financial arena, Pirro was a professional Alpine Ski athlete, ranking within the top 150 athletes globally in Giant Slalom and participating in the European Cup circuit.

Algebris managed around $21.5 billion of assets as of 31 December 2021. The firm maintains offices in London, Milan, Rome, Dublin, Luxembourg, Boston, Singapore, and Tokyo. The Algebris team consists of over 140 professionals globally.

Aubrey Capital Management
Edinburgh-based privately owned investment management firm Aubrey Capital Management has appointed Ramsay Wilson as investment manager in its private client team.

Wilson is taking over from John James, who retired at the end of November. Wilson will report to investment manager Chris Sutton and look after a wide range of client portfolios. He started his career in 2007, in London, as a trainee investment manager with Brewin Dolphin. After this, Wilson worked for a hedge fund based in Zurich, Switzerland as well as in the investment team for a large independent Scottish family office.

Prior to Aubrey, Wilson worked at UBS where he looked after a wide range of private client portfolios, covering Scotland and the UK regions. He holds an MSc in finance and investment management, as well as being a chartered member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment.