Symantec Will Verify .Bank & .Insurance Generic Top-Level Domains

fTLD Registry Services, LLC announced an agreement with Symantec Corporation to provide verification services for the “.bank” and “.insurance” generic top-level domains. In this role, Symantec will add a layer of protection to the new domains by verifying the eligibility of companies requesting domain names, making sure the person requesting the domain name is authorized by the company and ensuring the name requested by the company complies with fTLD’s policies.

Sorry but, as I have said before, I don’t see a lot of established banks and insurance companies leaving their .com or ccTLD to get .bank or .insurance domains only to get scrutinized by Symantec in the process.

“The cornerstone of consumer trust in ‘.bank’ and ‘.insurance’ is ensuring that only verified members of the banking and insurance communities are permitted to register domain names,” said Craig Schwartz, managing director of fTLD. “Symantec is the market leader in verifying the authenticity of organizations and we are confident in their ability to uphold our strict standards.”

fTLD selected Symantec following a public request for proposals process in April 2014. Symantec is an information protection expert that helps people, businesses and governments seeking the freedom to unlock the opportunities technology brings – anytime, anywhere. Symantec operates one of the largest global data-intelligence networks, has provided leading security, backup and availability solutions for where vital information is stored, accessed and shared. Symantec secures more than one million web servers with SSL certificates, has experienced100 percent availability over the past 8 years, and processes an average of over six billion certificate status protocol lookups per day.

“Trust and security are the foundation of the banking and insurance industries,” said Roxane Divol, SVP and GM, Trust Services at Symantec. “We are partnering with fTLD to provide an ever-greater level of assurance to customers doing online financial transactions through top-level domains. We are proud that fTLD selected us to provide these services.”

fTLD submitted community-based applications to ICANN for both domains and committed to enforcing strict registration requirements including eligibility and name selection policies. In September 2014, ICANN granted fTLD the right to operate “.bank.” The domain is expected to be available in mid-2015. fTLD’s application for .insurance is currently pending. For information about fTLD, please visit www.ftld.com.