Kbank targets retail banking, small business loans ahead of $722 million IPO

Kbank, which aims to go public on Oct. 30, identified retail banking, loans for small businesses and platform services as the three major pillars of its growth strategy ahead of its planned initial public offering (IPO) later this month.

Kbank CEO Choi Woo-hyung speaks during a press conference in western Seoul on Tuesday ahead of the initial public offering scheduled for Oct. 30. [NEWS1]

Kbank, which aims to go public on Oct. 30, identified retail banking, loans for small businesses and platform services as the three major pillars of its growth strategy ahead of its planned initial public offering (IPO) later this month.

Korea's first internet-only bank aims to raise up to 984 billion won ($722.5 million) through the IPO, which will be its second attempt to go public after scrapping an initial attempt in 2022.

“As our growth so far has been mainly driven by retail banking, we will now expand our focus into three key pillars, including corporate finance — focusing on small- and medium-sized enterprises [SMEs] — and platform businesses,” Kbank CEO Choi Woo-hyung said during a news conference in western Seoul on Tuesday.

“With the IPO, we will accelerate the innovation of non-face-to-face financial service innovation in our customers’ daily lives,” said Choi.

The offer price will be finalized on Friday following the book building, and subscription will be open for two days starting on Oct. 21. A total of 82 million shares will be open for subscription, with a price band set between 9,500 won and 12,000 won. If the price is set at the upper end of the proposed band, the bank may raise up to 984 billion won with an estimated market capitalization of around 5 trillion won.

Kbank will also be able to tap an additional fund of 725 billion won, raised through a rights offering back in 2021, which will be recognized as the bank’s equity and accessible once the listing is completed.

The bank plans to use the funds to expand its loan services for smaller businesses while launching a platform for alternative investment products such as virtual assets and art pieces.

Kbank, founded in 2017, had 12 million customers as of the end of September.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]