.insurance

Status:	Proposed
country:	International
Registry:	FTLD Registry Services LLC
Registry Backend:	GoDaddy
Type:	Community gTLD, Generic
Category:	Industry
nTLDStats
Registrations:	150
Parked Domains:	66
Parked Domain %:	44.0 %
Important Dates
Delegation:	03 December 2015
General Availability:	15 June 2016
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.

Radix received a GAC Early Warning as an entire applicant, where each one of the applicants was flagged by the U.S. Government. This seems to be the only time a portfolio applicant had all of their applications warned. The issue does not deal with the technical capabilities or thematic content of their applications, but rather the inclusion of an email address associated with the US' Federal Bureau of Investigation. It seems that Radix included correspondence with this address as a recommendation with each of their applications.

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."