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    • .bank

    Generic top-level domainsDNSSEC

    Overview

    • .bank is a sponsored top-level domain (TLD) intended for the banking sector.
    • It was created to provide a trusted, secure namespace for banks and related financial organizations and to reduce phishing and identity theft targeting banks.
    • The TLD is operated by fTLD Registry Services and sponsored by industry groups including the American Bankers Association and the Bank Policy Institute (Financial Services Roundtable/BITS).

    History

    • ICANN approved the .bank TLD in September 2014.
    • The string was added to the DNS root zone in late 2014 and officially delegated to fTLD Registry Services in January 2015 (delegation date reported as January 5, 2015).
    • The .bank initiative was led by industry groups (ABA and BITS) and managed as a community-oriented application via fTLD.
    • Early operational arrangements included a contract with Verisign for back-end registry services (announced in 2011).
    • Competing applicants and objections accompanied the application phase: Radix applied via Dotsecure, and a smaller Domain Security Company later withdrew from pursuing .bank.

    Usage and Audience

    • Registration and use are reserved for entities in the banking industry, including:
      • retail banks
      • savings associations
      • banking holding companies and related organizations composed primarily of such entities
      • government regulators of eligible companies (if approved by the fTLD board)
    • Adoption statistics cited in sources:
      • By March 2017 about 2,400 U.S. banks had registered nearly 5,000 .bank domains, with roughly 300 in active use at that time.
      • By August 2018 several hundred banking institutions had acquired .bank domains.
    • The association with the extension is exclusive and subject to vetting, which is intended to increase visitor trust.

    Registration Rules

    • Eligibility is restricted to qualifying organizations in the banking sector; domain names must correspond to the organization's legal name or branding.
    • No trademark is explicitly required, but applicants undergo an approval and vetting process.
    • Security-and-registration requirements include:
      • a vetting process (verified by third parties and renewed periodically)
      • registrations limited to approved registrars
      • .bank domains must be hosted on .bank name servers
      • required use of email authentication and two-factor authentication for registrants
    • Specific national rules can override registration: for example, Canadian entities using a .bank in violation of Canada’s Bank Act must relinquish the domain.

    SEO and Brand Impact

    • .bank has been included in the HSTS preload list, so browsers will connect to .bank sites only via HTTPS, enforcing secure transport by default.
    • The restricted, vetted nature of the TLD is positioned to improve trust and reduce spoofing/phishing of bank sites.
    • Some regulators and authorities (e.g., the European Banking Authority) expressed concerns that consumers might assume a .bank site implies regulation in their jurisdiction; the European Commission also flagged related applications for potential legal compatibility issues.

    Notable Cases or Examples

    • Principal applicant/operator: fTLD Registry Services LLC, a joint project of the American Bankers Association (ABA) and BITS/Financial Services Roundtable.
    • Other applicants and developments during the application phase:
      • Radix (Dotsecure) submitted an application and received a GAC early warning.
      • Domain Security Company (Asif LLC) pursued and later ceased pursuing the .bank string.
    • Operational/security milestones:
      • Inclusion of .bank in the HSTS preload list to enforce HTTPS connections.
      • Industry-led security specifications and proposed high-security requirements were submitted during the application process to guide registry policies and protections.

    Operator

    fTLD Registry Services, LLC

    Whois

    % IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       BANK

organisation: fTLD Registry Services, LLC
address:      1300 Eye Street, NW
address:      Suite 1100 West
address:      Washington DC 20005
address:      United States of America (the)

contact:      administrative
name:         Managing Director
organisation: fTLD Registry Services, LLC
address:      1300 Eye Street, NW
address:      Suite 1100 West
address:      Washington DC 20005
address:      United States of America (the)
phone:        +1 202 236 1154
e-mail:       ftld@ftld.com

contact:      technical
name:         IANA Contact
organisation: GoDaddy Registry
address:      100 S. Mill Ave, Suite 1600
address:      Tempe AZ 85281
address:      United States of America (the)
phone:        +1 480 505 8800
fax-no:       +1 480 624 2546
e-mail:       iana@registry.godaddy

nserver:      D.NIC.BANK 156.154.103.27 2610:a1:1010:0:0:0:0:27
nserver:      E.NIC.BANK 156.154.104.27 2610:a1:1011:0:0:0:0:27
nserver:      F.NIC.BANK 156.154.105.27 2610:a1:1012:0:0:0:0:27
nserver:      W.NIC.BANK 2001:dcd:1:0:0:0:0:10 37.209.192.10
nserver:      X.NIC.BANK 2001:dcd:2:0:0:0:0:10 37.209.194.10
nserver:      Y.NIC.BANK 2001:dcd:3:0:0:0:0:10 37.209.196.10
ds-rdata:     32743 13 2 c962ca12693bf639b1eeb2c9e5a5e90988ab334038e8daff0c1cd05454b57038

whois:        whois.nic.bank

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: https://www.ftld.com/

created:      2014-11-26
changed:      2024-07-01
source:       IANA

    Registrars