.ubank

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Status:	Proposed
Registry Provider:	Verisign
Type:	Brand TLD
Priority #:	783 - National Australia Bank Limited

.ubank is a Brand TLD being proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant is National Australia Bank Limited.

Application Details

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

"The .ubank gTLD will serve the interests of end users by providing an authoritative Internet space where information, services and resources of the brand will be closely controlled by National Australia Bank Ltd (“NAB”). UBank is a division of NAB and operates under the banking licence of NAB, one of Australia’s largest banks. The majority of the anticipated domain name registrations in the .ubank gTLD will be used in the promotion and communication of NAB’s UBank brand and its banking and financial services. NAB may, at a later date, create personalised domain names on behalf of its customers to provide a personal and secure user experience while maintaining increased customer trust and brand authenticity online. In this endeavour, NAB will continue to comply with all operational, technical and policy requirements, as well as maintaining consumer trust and the stability of the internet.

NAB is a financial services organisation with over 40,000 employees across the globe. NAB is ranked the 17th largest bank in the world measured by market capitalisation and operates major financial services business in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the United Kingdom and the United States. NAB established UBank in 2008 as a ‘branchless’ bank, interacting with its customers through telephone and internet banking services. As an online banking service, customer trust and continuous innovation are paramount considerations in all of its business activities. .ubank will increase such trust and innovation by presenting an authoritative internet space in which customers can securely interact and transact with UBank.

With the expansion of the current domain name system, business activities conducted on the internet are changing and evolving with increased complexity. The volume of commercial transactions carried out over the internet is constantly growing, bringing benefits of simplicity and lowered transaction costs to businesses and consumers. However, at the same time, criminal activities over the internet including data breach, hacking and phishing activities have also become more sophisticated resulting in loss of consumer confidence beyond mere monetary harm. The .ubank gTLD will provide a secure domain space for customers to interact and transact, encouraging greater consumer trust and confidence in the authenticity of the UBank brand, products and services as presented online.

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Given the restricted nature of the .ubankgTLD, the projected number of registrations is likely to be limited. It’s anticipated that a more limited number of domain names (up to 50) will be registered in the first year. However, over the next few years, the number of registrations is likely to increase to about 100 domain names as new services and marketing campaigns are developed and implemented. As the .ubank gTLD evolves and expands, NAB will keep ICANN reasonably informed of any material developments relating to the .ubank gTLD, including compliance with the continued operations instrument obligations as set out in Specification 8 of the Registry Agreement."