ICANN | Questions to and Answers from Applicant for .fin

Questions to and Answers from Applicant for .fin

ICANN Questions:

ICANN is in the process of reviewing Association Monegasque des Banques 's TLD Application. As outlined in the October 23, 2000 TLD Application Review Update which appears at http://www.icann.org/tlds/tld-review-update-23oct00.htm, ICANN may "gather the additional information [it] require[s] by posing specific questions to applicants in e-mail and requesting a written response."

Keeping in mind the goal to evaluate applications to operate or sponsor new TLDs in as open and transparent a manner as possible, both the questions posed by ICANN and the Applicant's responses will be publicly disclosed on the ICANN website.

Accordingly, ICANN requests your reponses to the following questions:

1. Identify and describe in detail how the governance structure of the Financial Internet Domain Association (proposed Sponsoring Organization) will be responsive to the diverse needs of "corporations and the professionals operating in the finance sector".

2. Identify and describe in detail the criteria the Monaco Banking Association and "internationally recognized personalities of the financial world" will use in selecting the initial board members of the Financial Internet Domain Association.

3. In the Sponsoring Organization's Proposal you provide that "[t]he present application for a registry would create substantial added value to the many efforts conducted by the Government and the Association to foster the growing recognition of Monaco as a strong European Financial Center." Describe in detail how this fact uniquely positions the Applicant in representing the diverse interests of the international financial community.

4. As provided in Section E5.3 of your application, identify and describe in detail the Registry's pre-screening procedure to assure "that only financial entities in certain SIC codes" will be allowed to register a domain name.

5. As provided in Section E5.3 of your application, identify and describe in detail "the applicable legal and regulatory requirements" necessary to register a domain name.

Association Monegasque des Banques Responses:

1. The Financial Internet Domain Association ("FIDA") will be aware of the diverse needs of "corporations and the professionals operating in the finance sector" through:

the Board of Directors, where most of its members will belong to representative professional associations on a world wide basis and will express the needs of their affiliates (see C6);

the website forum (see C7) where a permanent and proactive dialog will be established.

All this input will guide the Board to design appropriate solutions. Its proposed solutions will be posted for comments at least 4 weeks prior to Board decisions. (see C10).

To be fully responsive, the Board will meet as often as necessary (see C11). The costs of physical meetings have been taken into account in the FIDA budget. Conference calls will be organized as needed.

2. Its is our intention to approach banking and insurance associations in all the financial areas of the world. This process is already under way. We also propose to approach, for example, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication («SWIFT ») and the United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (« FDIC ») and the other organizations which have commented on this application.

In our application (see C3), some of the criteria have been described:

each continent shall be represented,
2 members from the banking community, 2 from the insurance community, 2 brokers, 2 financial product distributors and 3 persons belonging to world financial institutions... "

Since the 2nd of October, the AMB has given additional reflection to the procedure that would be used to select the initial board directors :

An invitation to participate to the election of the initial Board of Directors will be posted on the web and in major financial newspapers, i.e. Financial Times, Wall Street Journal,..., and in media, such Reuters, Bloomberg, CNN,.... A personal letter will be sent to all the world, regional and national financial associations. The list of the adressees will be posted on the web so that any omission can be corrected. The organizations/entities on this list will have one vote each for the electronic vote to appoint the initial Board. The candidates for each category (banking community, insurance community,...) will present themselves on Internet.

3. Monaco is an independant and sovereign country, a member of the United Nations as well as a member of other international bodies. Geographically, Monaco is well situated in the heart of Europe and on the Mediterranean rim. Communications with both Eastern countries and the Americas are quite easy.

Being a neutral state that can not be suspected of engaging in power based politics, Monaco is in a unique position to host an association such as FIDA. It provides a mature and efficient financial environment.

In this context, Monaco is already hosting numerous international meetings where finance and insurance professionals exchange views on market and policies of their respective activities (for example, the Congrès de la Réassurance, each year in September which brings 3 000 people from all over the world to Monaco).

4. We are fully aware that the selected SIC codes ( in appendix E17) only represent a list of the activities performed by the corporations and professionals concerned with .FIN domain names.

The SIC codes cannot be alone a pre-screening tool because there cannot be a systematic control that guarantees that a company or a professional effectively operates a business under particular codes. As explained in answer to question 5, additional effective criteria have to be used.

5. It is premature and would be presumptuous to present a blue print of all "applicable legal and regulatory requirements" at this stage.

However, we want to reiterate what was explained in our application (see E17) where we gave clear indication as to the methods we would apply to determine the requirements :

" At present neither the SO nor the registry are in a position to describe accurately what will be the criteria which will have to be met by the potential registrants to register a .FIN domain name. However, in a great number of countries, there are well-established institutions granting various licenses to companies or individuals operating in the broad financial field. The SO will heavily rely on their work and professionalism to set up and maintain a list of agencies and regulatory authorities. Accreditation by appropriate agencies and authorities to exercise a financial activity will qualify a potential registrant to register a .FIN domain name.

In other countries and in other cases (for instance, financial media and personnel), the SO will rely on country licensing where applicable, and as a general rule, apply fairness to application review. The aim will be constantly to serve best the Internet world and the financial community at large ".

Because FIDA's board members will be internationally representative, it will be the Board's first task to define the applicable legal and regulatory requirements for domain name registration, and it is not possible or appropriate for us to fully do so. The mission will be defined by the FIDA Board, but we expect that it will be to seek to establish and enhance the reliability of financial information appearing on the Internet.

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