Unlisted stock trading becomes more accessible via apps

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By Anna J. Park

Shinhan Financial Investment announced Monday that it has partnered with PSX Inc. to launch an unlisted stock trading exchange platform, Seoul Exchange.

With an account at Shinhan Financial Investment, retail investors can easily trade various local companies' unlisted shares on the platform through mobile and PC devices. The transactions are immediately settled and supported by Shinhan Financial Investment's accounts. Shinhan's brokerage affiliate and PSX will offer free transactions until the end of February next year, to mark the service's launch.

Before the partnership between the companies, investors aiming to trade unlisted stocks at the PSX site ― which was named the Pangyo Exchange until recently ― had to privately set up a meeting and exchange signed contracts for trades. With the service, investors can trade unlisted stocks, as they do with listed stocks through mobile applications of local brokerage firms.

The PSX was selected by Shinhan Financial Group's venture capital nurturing program, the Shinhan Futures' Lab, and has maintained close ties to it.

“The newly launched online platform aims to provide convenience and stability for unlisted stock trading transactions, hoping to solidify its position as a representative platform in unlisted stock trading,” an official from Shinhan Financial Investment said.

Shinhan and PSX's partnership is very similar to that of Samsung Securities and techfin firm Dunamu's Stock Plus ― another unlisted stock exchange app. Samsung and Dunamu launched their Stock Plus service back in November last year, bringing innovations to unlisted stock trading. Trading at the site is settled and supported by Samsung Securities' accounts.

Based on market participants' growing interest in IPOs this year, Dunamu's Stock Plus witnessed a rapid hike in monthly activity users (MAU) recently. The unlisted stock exchange's MAU was hovering around 10,000 people early this year, but the number exceeded 119,000 in September. With the growing interest, the number of Stock Plus users has now surpassed 300,000.

Market watchers expect the current fever around unlisted stock trading will continue next year, as easy-to-use online platforms for trading are becoming more available for retail investors.