The European Banking Authority (EBA) has urged the Internet Cooperation for Assigned Names (ICANN) to withdraw the availability of “.bank” and “.fin” general top level domain names (gTLDs). ICANN coordinates and oversees website identification, and is currently inviting application for those gTLDs after increasing the number of gTLDs that are available.
The EBA is concerned that fraudsters may target consumers by applying for those gTLDs, with consumers then presuming that all websites using those gTLDs are endorsed by financial regulators.