.insurance

Status:	Proposed
country:	International
Type:	Community gTLD, Generic
Category:	Industry
More information:

.insurance is a proposed new generic top level domain name (gTLD) to ICANN's New gTLD Program.

Current Applicants

1. fTLD Registry Services LLC a partnership with BITS, the technology policy arm of Financial Services Roundtable, and the American Bankers Association (ABA)
   
2. Radix (DotFresh Inc.), a subsidiary of Directi Group that has applied for for 31 domains.
   
3. Progressive Casualty Insurance Co.
4. Donuts (Auburn Park, LLC) one of 307 TLDs the company has applied for.

ABA & BITS Bid (fTLD Registry Services)

ABA and BITS confirmed their application for the .insurance and .bank TLDs in a press statement released on May 31, 2012. Craig Schwartz, head of operations for Financial TLD Initiative, said that the partnership aims 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." ABA & BITS applications for both domain name strings are supported by a number of financial services organizations including the Australian Bankers’ Association, American Bankers Insurance Association, British Bankers’ Association, European Banking Federation, Independent Community Bankers of America and the the International Banking Federation. The partnership formed the fTLD Registry Services, LLC to manage and operate .insurance and .bank domain name space.

Radix Bid

Radix, a newly created subsidiary business of Directi Group also confirmed its application for the .insurance TLD. The .insurance string is one of the 31 gTLDs being applied for by the company with an allocated budget of $30 million. Bhavin Turakhia, CEO of Radix is prepared to face a string contention and an auction for the string. He also expressed that he is open to establish partnerships with other applicants. ARI Registry Services was chosen by Radix to serve as its back-end registry services provider.

Donuts

Donuts' application was issued a GAC Early Warning from the representative of Australia and GAC Chair, Heather Dryden. The warning system is noted as a strong recommendation on behalf of national governments to the ICANN Board that a given TLD application should be denied as it stands. Applicants are encouraged to work with objecting GAC members. The warning notes that the TLD refers to a regulated market but that the applicant has not provided for adequate measures to protect from consumer harm. Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. was the only other applicant for insurance to receive such a warning.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Co.

The application was issued a GAC Early Warning from the representative of Australia and GAC Chair, Heather Dryden. The warning system is noted as a strong recommendation on behalf of national governments to the ICANN Board that a given TLD application should be denied as it stands. Applicants are encouraged to work with objecting GAC members.

The warning states that the applicant is "seeking exlcusive access to a common generic string .. that relates to a broad market sector," which Ms. Dryden notes could have unintended consequences and a negative impact on competition."

Top-Level Domain

Governmental Advisory Committee. Considers and provides advice on the activities of ICANN as they relate to concerns of governments, particularly matters where there may be an interaction between ICANN's policies and various laws and international agreements or where they may affect public policy issues (ICANN Bylaws).