IBK Financial Group said on Tuesday it will pursue a “KOSDAQ Value-up and Bridge Programme” to resolve information asymmetry in the KOSDAQ market and promote the sustained growth of small and venture companies.

The group said it prepared the programme after an analysis that, despite the KOSDAQ market’s expansion in scale, a lack of investment information and financing gaps at each growth stage have weakened the virtuous cycle of the venture capital ecosystem and led to undervaluation of high-quality small but strong companies.

First, the KOSDAQ value-up programme focuses on building a group-wide integrated research system to ease information asymmetry in the KOSDAQ market.

To that end, it plans to form a KOSDAQ revitalisation task force and establish a KOSDAQ research centre at IBK Investment & Securities, the group’s securities unit and the only securities affiliate of a state-owned bank selected by the Financial Services Commission as an SME-specialised securities firm. It aims to strengthen discovery, research and growth support for promising small and mid-sized firms before and after listing.

The KOSDAQ bridge programme will be pursued by combining the bank’s vast small business data and field network with a group-wide value chain that links securities, venture investment and asset management, to address financing gaps at each stage of corporate growth.

Through this, it plans to reinforce a virtuous-cycle structure that leads from “discovery-listing-growth-global expansion” and to support stable corporate growth by creating a mezzanine fund totalling 500 billion won over the next three years.

Kim Young-seok (장민영), chief executive of IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, said, “We will contribute to strengthening small and mid-sized firms’ access to the capital market by easing information asymmetry in the KOSDAQ market, creating a sound investment ecosystem and expanding points of contact between investors and companies.” He added, “We will continue to strengthen policy finance leadership that supports the government’s value-up policy.”