K bank reaches Kospi after long, bumpy IPO journey

Retail demand strong in subscriptions, but first-day trading turns choppy

K bank CEO Choi Woo-hyung (in red) poses for photographs at the listing ceremony at the Korea Exchange in Seoul on Thursday. (Korea Exchange)

The market has proved no easy battlefield for K bank, Korea’s first online-only lender, as it finally completed a long and bumpy journey to the Kospi on Thursday, following two failed attempts to go public.

The debut drew a strong reception, with the stock surging as much as 16 percent to 9,880 won ($6.70) in the first hour of trading, well above its initial public offering price of 8,300 won. K bank sold 60 million shares in the IPO, raising about 498 billion won and valuing the lender at roughly 3.37 trillion won based on the offer price.

Yet the rally had been far from guaranteed. It came a day after the Kospi plunged 12 percent on Wednesday, following a 7 percent drop Tuesday, as global markets were rattled by escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Seoul was hit particularly hard after an unprecedented two-month rally, leaving investors uncertain about when the long-running surge would finally lose momentum.

Relief briefly swept the market Thursday morning. The Kospi opened 3 percent higher, turning positive for the first time in four sessions and at one point climbing nearly 12 percent to above 5,700.

But the respite proved short-lived for K bank. The shares quickly surrendered much of their early gains, slipping to as low as 8,120 won in the afternoon, about 2 percent below the offer price, before closing almost flat at 8,330 won.

The first-day performance cast a shadow over the lender’s long-awaited debut, which followed two failed attempts in 2022 and 2024 that were both withdrawn amid unfavorable market conditions and weak investor demand.

Disappointment was sharper, as anticipation ahead of Thursday’s listing had appeared stronger than in previous attempts, at least until the public subscription wrapped up last week. The two-day retail offering on Feb. 20 and 23 drew a competition rate of about 135 to 1, reflecting robust interest from individual investors. The enthusiasm was partly driven by K bank entering the Kospi as the year’s first IPO during a rally that at one point pushed the benchmark index above 6,000, roughly 40 percent higher than at the start of the year.

Regardless, the listing removes a major overhang for the lender. K bank had secured roughly 700 billion won from financial investors on the condition that it go public by July 2026. The deal granted investors drag-along rights, allowing them to force the sale of not only their stakes, but also shares held by BC Card, K bank’s largest shareholder, if the listing failed.

K bank plans to use the proceeds to diversify its portfolio by expanding lending to small and midsized companies, strengthening its technological capabilities, scaling up its platform business and accelerating its push into digital assets and stablecoins.