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Large banks that have invested heavily in branding for their current Web addresses are not eager to switch to a .bank URL, but small banks may find there's some appeal.
November 30 -
While new internet address endings like .bank could provide more security, banks with long, convoluted names will have trouble taking advantage of the new domain-name scheme.
August 5
The American Bankers Association and the Financial Services Roundtable have applied to operate the generic Top Level Domains of .bank and .insurance.
The groups are looking to control the domains to “provide the highest security for the millions of customers conducting banking and insurance activities online and to ensure the safety and soundness of the industry,” Craig Schwartz, head of operations for the ABA and Roundtable effort, said in a news release.
They applied to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in December. ICANN, which oversees the Internet domain name system, had been taking applications for Top Level Domain names. ABA and the Roundtable were concerned that if the .bank and .insurance top level domain names were not properly run then they would be open to fraud.
ABA and the Roundtable said Thursday that the new domains would adhere to the 31 security standards submitted to ICANN. Additionally, financial institution registrants must be chartered by their home country financial regulators and other financial entities would be vetted to ensure compliance with registration requirements.
