Tamas Szabo on Pepperstone's competitive spirit and the transformative power of an F1 partnership

Pepperstone is our Global Forex and Trading partner. The group operates in the UK, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, but it calls Australia home and views its partnership with the team as more than a brand-awareness play. Group CEO Tamas Szabo explains why.

F1's data-driven, highly analytical environment and absolute focus on performance has a resonance with the fast-paced world of international finance, and Pepperstone lives at the heart of that. Group CEO Tamas Szabo sees the partnership with Aston Martin Aramco as not only a way to grow brand awareness, but also as a method by which his business can learn more about itself. 18 months into our partnership, this is what he has to say.

Growing a business in a competitive landscape

"I've been in trading since I left university. I was drawn to the industry because it's a high-octane environment which matched my temperament! I don't like sitting around doing things slowly. I've always been competitive, and this is a highly competitive industry. I joined Pepperstone in 2017 as Group CEO, and shortly after I was given the opportunity to acquire the business. It was an amazing opportunity – one of those real once-in-a-lifetime moments. I really enjoy what we do, and I'm very proud of what we're building.

"What I've learned from decades in this industry is to grow a business in a competitive landscape requires novel thinking. You can't simply follow the competition, you have to do things differently. Sometimes success comes from doing something quite opposite. I've always enjoyed that.

"When people join us, it sometimes takes a while for them to figure out what we are and what we're not. We're a business that isn't afraid to try new ideas and indulge novel ways of thinking. That helps define what we do. Often those things work well, but if they don't, OK, mistakes are part of the process of growing a business. If people never make a mistake, I don't think they're trying hard enough. The critical bit is learning from mistakes, pivoting successfully, and doing something different.

"Ours is an industry where the game changes all the time. It makes me very wary of long-term business plans. I like to have a direction of travel – a North Star – to inform us of where we're going, but also the flexibility to detour off the route when something new appears. AI, for example, is completely changing our industry. A few years ago, that wouldn't have been in anyone's long term plan."

AI, TradFi and deFi

"We're at a crossroads in the financial world – and AI is the way forward. It is fundamentally going to change the way all businesses operate and I suspect the change is going to be more profound than many people expect.

"I think we will be moving towards a world where AI builds and creates first. Over time AI won't just help humans do something. It will do the job and it's the human that will then come in and apply the finishing touches. We're designing to try to change to that type of cadence, which is a lot about where and how you store your data.

"It's going to allow businesses to really move. If you get this right productivity could go through the roof; you'll be able to do things a lot quicker than you've managed to do before. But this also makes human creativity a more valuable commodity. That last 20 per cent is where people will make the difference.

"It's changing the competitive landscape. At the moment, businesses have their moat built around them, constructed of the things that make them special, make them different. A lot of that isn't going to be changed by AI: things like brand, customer service, hiring the best people. Businesses aren't going to be able to sustain a long-term competitive advantage in AI. They're going to have to change what they see as important. But aspects of a firms moat will change and one big one will be technology as this will be the easiest thing to replicate at scale.

"If AI is a catalyst for change, the second force that we're watching really closely in our industry is crypto. It continues to challenge the foundations of how finance has been done for generations. Today, there's a convergence between crypto and the real financial world – what people call TradFi [Traditional Finance] and deFi [Decentralised Finance]. We're seeing customers adapt their demands. They want 24-hour trading; they want products that are very easy to trade, easy to interact with – and crypto has provided that. The pace of change is rapid – but I think it's going to get faster. Certainly, the opportunity is huge: finance can be done very differently."

We're at a crossroads in the financial world – and AI is the way forward. It's going to change the way businesses operate and the change will be more profound than many people expect.

The value of competition

"I take a lot of enjoyment from working with really smart people: people that can come up with ideas and change the way I think about things. The motivational value of that is immense – but it's also how you build a business and build a brand: having that right group of people invested in it and passionate about it.

"I'm very passionate about Pepperstone and growing it in a highly competitive environment. I don't think I'd enjoy it quite so much were it not as competitive as it is. Sometimes you're tempted to think it would be lovely if the competition didn't exist – but they make us all work a lot harder and create things that are arguably a lot better. Ultimately, competition is good."

Pepperstone in F1

"All of these factors led us to our partnership with Aston Martin Aramco. We did an in-depth exercise to understand which sports we wanted to be involved with in order to build our brand. I attended a number of F1 events and noticed the audience seemed to resonate very much with our demographic. Everyone I spoke to – and I spoke to as many people as I could – had an appetite for risk, an appetite for excitement, and this seemed strongly aligned with our target market. This was the primary reason I felt we should be involved.

"F1 is one of the fastest growing sports in the world and there's only a handful of brands that can get onto an F1 car, so when I first saw our brand on Aston Martin Aramco's car, I was very proud. I think all of us were, because it was a real moment for us – but it's not all about the logo.

"Partnering with Aston Martin Aramco is a bigger, deeper proposition that you don't necessarily realise up front. To the uninitiated – and I'd have certainly put myself in that camp – it is about the logo, but today I think that's probably 20-30 per cent of the value. The rest is all about the activation. There are so many facets to this that I didn't appreciate 18 months ago. Without exaggeration, I'd say it's transformative.

"Since announcing our partnership in January 2025, we've seen a 76 per cent increase in volume. It's not all attributed to F1, of course, but there are a lot of things that are going right. Beyond the numbers, I think it levels-up the business. We're partnered with an F1 team, and that resonates internally. We don’t compromise on the way we operate, we're not tolerant of mediocrity, and it is easier to understand what that means when you have a partnership like this."

Building the brand

"While it helps us internally, partnership with Aston Martin Aramco also builds trust in our business. A lot of people very passionate about F1 are our clients, and it certainly helps in that regard – but it also aids Pepperstone as a brand. To put it very plainly, with your logo on the side of an F1 car, there's a natural assumption that you are a large and serious. I think that resonates with our customers and brings trust and credibility to a wider audience. It doesn't change the reality of who we are – we were always a large and serious company – but it communicates it better."

To the uninitiated – and I'd have certainly put myself in that camp – it's about the logo, but today I think that's probably 20-30 per cent of the value. The rest is all about the activation.

Similarities...

"Spending time around the F1 team, it's impossible to not see the synergies. We're in a competitive business; mistakes are costly, and you can't afford to do anything stupid, because either your competitors are hot on your heels or you're on theirs. I think that's very similar to F1 – as is the constant pursuit of the new idea that gives you the tiniest edge. Those edges get closed down very quickly, but you're already looking for the next one. This is virtually identical to the way F1 operates, at both a design and operational level. Just being able to understand these synergies is incredibly useful for us. I think our traders believe it justifies the partnership all by itself.

"With this in mind, we're planning on taking our senior team to the AMR Technology Campus at Silverstone. It's very exciting – but it helps with the process of osmosis, where we learn about operating at the pace an F1 team does. Meeting first-hand the people that do it is going to be really important for our senior team. It's something to which I'm really looking forward."

Part of a family

"Partnering with Aston Martin Aramco has made us feel like part of a team, not just a sponsor. We really value this – and it is reinforced when we bring clients to the races for an experience that is unique. It's a real differentiator, a real point of success.

"We've launched Pepperstone on a global stage, but races generally coincide with the places we have hubs and a great many of our customers. That really helps.

"It's also useful to meet other team partners and do events with them – great brands like Glenfiddich, Breitling, Aston Martin, of course, and many of the other businesses that share our values. I've met a lot of CEOs! It's fantastic to speak with like-minded people, but also to learn about how they've grown their business and what their challenges are."

We'd like to become one of the top three firms in the world at what we do. I think we can achieve it – it'll take a lot of focus, and we have to get everything right.

Never settle...

"Our partnership is working well. It doesn't need the team collecting trophies to succeed, but like everyone at the AMR Technology Campus, we'd love to see it, simply because it's something that motivates and inspires.

"I can feel the ambition the team has got, the ambition to win, and not settle for being in the midfield. You have to take some risks to do that. I'm not here to judge Aston Martin Aramco, but I get the impression this is what Executive Chairman Lawrence Stroll and the team are doing. They're bringing in the best people, doing everything they can to be number one. It's not a linear process, it goes up and down, and sometimes it takes longer than you expect.

"While I can sympathise with that, it also speaks beautifully to who we are as a brand. We absolutely never settle. There's a vast list of things we want to do to make our products better and it never ends. We're never going to finish what we're trying to do.

"It's sometimes good to remind yourself of that because it can be quite exhausting. It's good to have an illustration that this is... normal, rather than have everyone waiting for something to finish. That's not going to happen.

"What would be a podium for Pepperstone? We'd like to become one of the top three firms in the world at what we do. I think we can achieve it – it'll take a lot of focus, and we have to get everything right. Hopefully we'll be doing it together with Aston Martin Aramco, and for many years to come."