THE MISSION AND PURPOSE OF THE NEW RESTRICTED .ANZ gTLD IS TO BENEFIT INTERNET USERS BY ENSURING INCREASED TRUST AND CONFIDENCE THROUGH THE ELIMINATION OF USER CONFUSION AND ASSURANCE OF BRAND AUTHENTICITY. The new .anz gTLD will operate as a restricted registry, in which Australia and New Zealand... Read more
THE MISSION AND PURPOSE OF THE NEW RESTRICTED .ANZ gTLD IS TO BENEFIT INTERNET USERS BY ENSURING INCREASED TRUST AND CONFIDENCE THROUGH THE ELIMINATION OF USER CONFUSION AND ASSURANCE OF BRAND AUTHENTICITY.
The new .anz gTLD will operate as a restricted registry, in which Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) can create and control domain spaces that promote its brand identity and authenticity. .anz will be used by ANZ, its affiliates and partners that are associated with the ANZ brand to provide authoritative information and resources regarding ANZ's banking and financial products and services to consumers in a way that promotes trust, confidence and convenience. Second and third level domains can then be utilised for online banking, specific product pages and for marketing purposes, with internet users assured of brand authenticity.
ANZ is one of Australia's leading providers of banking and financial products and services including retail, commercial, global institutional, private banking, investments, insurance and superannuation. ANZ's proud history dates back 175 years when the Bank of Australasia opened its first offices in Sydney and Melbourne, the latter of which has remained ANZ's global headquarters to this day. Today ANZ operates in 32 countries around the world with a particularly strong presence in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region. ANZ is Australia's third largest bank and is one of the top 25 largest banks in the world with a market capitalisation of approximately AUD60 billion. Listed on the Australian Stock Exchange under the ANZ code, ANZ had 2011 revenue of AUD36 billion, eight million customers and 48,000 employees worldwide. In 2010, ANZ was assessed as the world's most sustainable bank by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the fourth consecutive year. ANZ launched its online banking website, anz.com, in 1996, which now has millions of internet banking customers, and its innovative iPhone banking application in 2008. In this regard, brand protection, consumer trust and continuous innovation are paramount considerations in all its activities. .anz will promote ANZ as an innovative, forward-thinking bank, provide improved user navigation and enhance consumer trust in ANZ's online brand by providing a secure and authentic online banking environment.
Business activities are increasingly conducted over the internet, allowing for greater levels of interaction between businesses and customers. As a result, both businesses and end users benefit from ease of interaction and a wider range of choices with lower transaction costs. However, the development in this arena in the current domain name system has exposed both businesses and consumers to increased criminal activities over the internet, including data breach, hacking and phishing. These sophisticated criminal activities cause reputational damage to businesses as internet users lose consumer confidence and trust with the businesses targeted by such criminal activities. .anz will facilitate greater trust and assurance from internet users connecting with ANZ online, whilst still allowing convenient and efficient interaction.
ANZ's mission and purpose of the proposed gTLD share ICANN's initiatives to promote public interest. ANZ is committed to contribute towards achieving such initiatives in line with ICANN's Affirmation of Commitments, which includes:
- consumer trust: .anz will be operated in a centralised manner with a restrictive registration policy. Registration of domain names will only be available to ANZ and its affiliates, at this stage, which will provide added consumer trust that .anz domain names are trustworthy. As .anz domain names are subject to registration standards, policies and procedures under ANZ's control, this eliminates the possibility of malicious conduct within .anz;
- competition: the gTLD is not intended to instigate competition and consumer choice at the level of registration of domain names among prospective registrants. Instead it is anticipated to contribute to ICANN's initiatives to promote public interest through its operation focused on promoting consumer trust. Increased trust in .anz will drive existing and new top level domain (TLD) registry operators to make improvements in mechanisms to improve consumer trust of their TLDs; and
- consumer choice: the gTLD will enable user-driven improvements and innovations assisting ANZ's marketing efforts through its ability to create new second and third level domain names on demand. These names will provide the consumers with more choices for interacting with ANZ. As ANZ has effective control over the registration and use of domain names under .anz, this will also contribute towards general service innovations on the internet.
Given the restricted nature of .anz, the projected number of registrations is likely to be limited with about 5 to 15 domain names registered in the first three years. However, this number is likely to increase as ANZ implements new banking and financial products and services and marketing campaigns.
As the .anz gTLD expands, ANZ will continue to comply with all operational, technical and policy requirements, as well as maintaining consumer trust and the stability of the internet. ANZ will keep ICANN reasonably informed of any material developments relating to .anz including compliance with the continued operations instrument obligations as set out in Specification 8 of the Registry Agreement.
ANZ intends to create domain names for online banking, products, services and geographic names at the second or third level. In accordance with registration policy and the proposed measures for protection of geographic names as outlined in response to Question 22, ANZ will use geographic names to localise its websites in countries in which it operates. It is anticipated that the number of geographic names used at the second level will increase as ANZ expands internationally. The use of geographic names is intended to:
- connect internet users with relevant information as applicable to the territory;
- provide seamless user navigation across ANZ's geographic markets; and
- comply with required rules and regulations in the national territory.
At this stage, ANZ does not intend to utilise Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) at the second level. However, as the use of the .anz gTLD evolves, ANZ may wish to utilise IDNs within the .anz domain space to allow internet users to engage with .anz in their native language, creating a more positive user experience and encouraging diversity.
ANZ is a well-recognised global brand with its "ANZ" trademark registered in 24 countries and territories, including Australia, India, EU and UK, and pending or accepted trademark applications in a further seven countries, for classes including: Insurance and financial services including banking (36) and Advertising and business services (35).
ANZ has an extensive domain portfolio including domain names with an exact match to the "ANZ" trademark and applied-for .anz string in the following spaces:
gTLDs: anz.asia, anz.com, anz.info, anz.jobs and anz.mobi
ccTLDs: anz.com.au, anz.net.au, anz.as, anz.cm, anz.co.,anz.co.kr, anz.co.nz, anz.co.th, anz.com.fj, anz.com.ki, abz.com.pg, anz.com.ph, anz.com.sb, anz.com.sg, anz.com.tl, anz.hk, anz.in, anz.jp, anz.ki, anz.kr, anz.la, anz.my, anz.net.ck, anz.net.sb, anz.ph, anz.sg, anz.tel, anz.tl, anz.to, anz.tw, anz.us and anz.ws.
ANZ also has nearly 600 existing gTLDs and ccTLDs containing the "ANZ" trademark.
ANZ believes that .anz is unlikely to cause confusion with either a generic term or any existing TLDs. ANZ trademarks are a leading global brand with significant reputation in the Asia-Pacific region. ANZ has used the term ANZ in conjunction with its banking businesses for over 60 years. As such, the ANZ brand is well known for providing customer-focused, socially responsible banking and financial services.
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