Changes

| revenue        =

| revenue        =

| businesses      =

| businesses      =

| website        = [http://www.bits.org/ BITS.org]

| website        = [http://www.bits.org/ BITS.org]<br> [http://www.ftld.com fTLD.com]

| keypeople      = [[Paul Smocer]], President<br>

| keypeople      = [[Paul Smocer]], President<br>

| twitter        =

| twitter        =

'''BITS''' is the technology policy division of the [[Financial Services Roundtable]]. It represents 100 of the largest financial services companies that provide insurance, investment products or banking services.<ref>[http://www.bits.org/ BITS official website]</ref>

'''BITS''' is the technology policy division of the [[Financial Services Roundtable]]. It represents 100 of the largest financial services companies that provide insurance, investment products or banking services.<ref>[http://www.bits.org/ BITS official website]</ref>

It was created in 1996 by the Financial Services Roundtable to better help its members understand and collaborate on new technologies.<ref>[http://www.bits.org/ A short history about the creation of BITS]</ref>

In 1996, CEOs and senior executives of the nation's largest financial institutions recognized the need for an organization to keep up with vast changes brought about by new technologies. At that time, Frank Wobst, then Chairman and CEO of Huntington Bancshares, chaired The Financial Services Roundtable's Technology Task Force. Through his leadership, BITS was created to allow Roundtable members to collaborate on key technology issues affecting the financial services industry.

 

BITS addresses issues at the intersection of financial services, technology and public policy, where industry cooperation serves the public good, such as critical infrastructure protection, fraud prevention, and the safety of financial services. BITS is the technology policy division of The Financial Services Roundtable, which represents 100 integrated financial services companies providing banking, insurance, and investment products and services to the American consumer.<ref>[http://www.bits.org/ A short history about the creation of BITS]</ref>

==.Bank and .Insurance Financial TLD Initiative==

==.Bank and .Insurance Financial TLD Initiative==

BITS, in partnership with the [[American Bankers Association]], confirmed their application for the [[.bank]] and [[.insurance]] [[TLD|top level domain names]]s (TLDs) via [[ICANN]]'s [[New gTLD Program]] to provide a safe and secure online space for the banking and insurance industry and its millions of consumers. [[Craig Schwartz]], former chief gTLD registry liaison of ICANN, serves as the head of operation for the BITS and ABA Financial TLD Initiative, which is known as [[fTLD Registry Services, LLC]].<ref>[http://www.bits.org/publications/pr/BITSandABADomainRelease053112.pdf ABA and The Financial Services Roundtable Apply for Financial Domains to Protect Consumers]</ref> The partnership formed the  to handle the applications for both domain name strings and to manage its operations once approved by ICANN.<ref>[http://www.bits.org/initiatives/fTLD.php Financial Top  

BITS/The Financial Services Roundtable, in partnership with the American Bankers Association, formed [[fTLD Registry Services, LLC]] (fTLD) to apply to [[ICANN]] to operate financially-oriented [[gTLD]]s. In 2012, fTLD submitted [[Community TLD|community-based applications]] for the [[.bank]] and [[.insurance]] TLDs to provide trusted and protected online spaces for the banking and insurance industries and their millions of consumers. [[Craig Schwartz]], former chief gTLD registry liaison of ICANN, serves as the head of operations for fTLD. fTLD chose [[Verisign]] to serve as its back-end registry operations provider.<ref>[http://www.bits.org/publications/pr/BITSandABADomainRelease053112.pdf ABA and The Financial Services Roundtable Apply for Financial Domains to Protect Consumers]</ref> <ref>[http://www.bits.org/initiatives/fTLD.php Financial Top Level Domain Initiative]</ref><ref>[http://domainincite.com/archives/4107-verisign-now-front-runner-for-bank VeriSign now front-runner for .bank]</ref>

Level Domain Initiative]</ref> They chose Verisign to serve as their bank-end registry solutions provider.<ref>[http://domainincite.com/archives/4107-verisign-now-front-runner-for-bank VeriSign now front-runner for .bank]</ref>

===Objection===

===Objection===

BITS has been vocal about what it deems as mandatory secuirty measure for any financially related gTLD. There are no specific measures stipulated in [[ICANN]]'s [[Applicant Guidebook]]. BITS' [[Security Standards Working Group]] has made its own set of suggestions to ICANN on such requirements.<ref>[http://domainincite.com/high-security-bank-spec-published/ High Security Bank Spec Published, DomainIncite.com]</ref>

BITS has been vocal about what it deems as mandatory secuirty measure for any financially related gTLD. There are no specific measures stipulated in [[ICANN]]'s [[Applicant Guidebook]]. BITS' [[Security Standards Working Group]] has made its own set of suggestions to ICANN on such requirements.<ref>[http://domainincite.com/high-security-bank-spec-published/ High Security Bank Spec Published, DomainIncite.com]</ref>

* [http://www.bits.org/publications/ICANNletters.php BITS Comment Letters to ICANN]

* [http://www.bits.org/publications/ICANNletters.php BITS Comment Letters to ICANN]