[THE INVESTOR] The total trading value of Korea‘s over-the-counter stock market has surged to surpass the 1 trillion-won (US$93.39 million) mark less than four years after its launch, data showed on March 20.

The accumulated value of transactions on the K-OTC stood slightly above the milestone as of March 20 morning, according to the market operator, the Korea Financial Investment Association.

The daily transaction value came to around 2.8 billion won this year on average, nearly three times larger than last year, it added.

The surge is mainly attributable to several investor-friendly policy measures, including the exemption from capital gain taxes for trading shares of small- and mid-sized firms, according to KOFIA officials. The exemption was put in place from this year.

“The pace of market growth has been getting faster. After all, in July 2017, around two years into the market opening, the transaction value reached 500 billion won, and that doubled in just one year and eight months,” said Han Jae-young, director of the K-OTC department at KOFIA. “We will do more to further invigorate the market.”

The OTC market is the venue for trading unlisted blue chips. In August 2014, KOFIA revamped the previous OTC bourse to liven up trading in a bid to boost safety and convenience in trading unlisted stocks. 

A total of 117 firms are on the market, including Samsung SDS, a key IT unit of the nation’s top conglomerate Samsung Group, and e-commerce solutions provider, Cafe24.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)