News

ABA, Financial Services Roundtable apply for financial domains

May 31, 2012

The American Bankers Association and The Financial Services Roundtable announced today their application to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to operate two generic Top Level Domains, .bank and .insurance, on behalf of the financial services industry.

According to a news release, the action was taken with the goal of safeguarding consumers against imposter websites in the hope of reducing fraud. The new domains will adhere to security standards developed by the Roundtable and ABA.

To maintain security and confidence in the .bank and .insurance domains, all financial institution registrants must be chartered by their home country financial regulators; any other financial entities will be vetted to ensure compliance with registration requirements.

"Consumers need to feel confident when they go to a .bank or .insurance site that a trusted third-party has vetted these domains names," said Doug Johnson, ABA vice president of risk management. "New financial domains will be a detriment – rather than asset – if they cannot be trusted. That's why our associations are leading this effort."

Many have expressed concerns about ICANN's plan to proceed with financial gTLDs. The Roundtable and ABA hope to ensure that any newly created financial domains represent legitimate financial entities, are highly secure and prevent customer confusion.

For more on this topic, visit the security research center.