.kfh

Status:	Proposed
Registry Provider:	CentralNic
Type:	Brand TLD
More information:

.kfh is a Brand TLD being proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant is Kuwait Finance House.

Application Details

The following is excerpted from the applicant's response to question #18:

"Kuwait Finance House (“KFH” or “Applicant”) has chosen to apply for the TLD to promote awareness of KFH’s services and products and facilitate the digital growth and physical expansion of KFH. The TLD will control and protect KFH and its Trademarks by providing an official digital hub for consumers worldwide as well as fostering consumer trust by creating a secure and technically stable zone. KFH is confident that the TLD will allow the company not only to achieve its own goals of expansion, risk reduction, improved performance and efficiency, and technological development, but also contribute to ICANNʹs commitment to innovation, consumer protection, security, and stability across new markets. Headquartered in Kuwait City, Kuwait, KFH provides Islamic Finance or Shari’a compliant services covering banking, real estate, trade finance, investment portfolios, and corporate, commercial, and retail financial markets. KFH was the first Islamic bank established in the State of Kuwait and is today one of the foremost Islamic financial institutions in the world. From its inception in 1977, KFH has grown into a robust banking and financial institution that is a market leader not only in the Islamic banking industry but also in the banking sector as a whole (both in terms of profitability and total assets). KFH has strong affiliations with leading international institutions and in the past has successfully launched a number of products in alliance with other major global banks such as Citi, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Chase, BNP Paribas, ABN Amro, and HSBC. Although KFH’s core market remains Kuwait (where it holds a 30% retail market share and the largest customer and retail base of any bank in Kuwait), the bank also cultivates a strong and growing international presence. KFH has established fully owned, independently functioning banks in Turkey (1989), Bahrain (2002), and Malaysia (2005, extended into Australia in 2008) while establishing significant stakes in other Islamic banks regionally and worldwide. As at December 2011, KFH also held subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. KFH actively seeks to expand its customer base both in Kuwait and internationally, quantitatively and qualitatively, by increasing the number of branches, developing communications channels with customers, developing innovative new products to meet evolving requirements, and continuously improving customer service to achieve the highest standards of quality and efficiency (as benchmarked against international standards). In its constant pursuit of excellence and bringing quality, secure banking products to new markets, KFH’s expansion program directly mirrors ICANN’s commitment to the extension of choice and the promotion of secure and stable technology across new and emerging markets. KFH is a multi-award winning organization, and it has received recognition and accolades from industry organizations and counterparts in every field – from Banking to Real Estate and Technology. In 2010, KFH won Global Finance’s award for Best Islamic Finance Bank in the GCC and was selected among the same organization’s Safest Banks in the Middle East. It is rated A+ by Fitch and Capital Intelligence, Aa3 by Moody’s, and A- by Standard and Poor’s. Its excellent ratings reflect the bank’s high degree of flexibility and resistance to market shocks. But perhaps the best gauge of the bank’s success and reliability is the trust consumers have placed in it: KFH ranks first in the banking deposit segment in Kuwait.

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The TLD has been specifically designed to meet KFH’s requirements and facilitate its corporate mission. Mirroring ICANNʹs own goals of promoting consumer protection, security, stability, innovation, and rights protection, KFH’s application for and desire to operate the TLD affirms its commitment to these areas and will ensure their execution. The domain will allow authorized parties within KFH to register the shortest, most intuitive, and most descriptive domain names possible. Consumers will be aware that corporate communications and websites are authorized by KFH - promoting their confidence in the brands and their protection from potentially harmful third parties (particularly important for financial institutions)."

Top-Level Domain