WASHINGTON CUNA said this morning it has been granted preliminary approval to claim the Internet domain .creditunion (dot credit union) for credit unions by the worldwide Internet Corporation for Names and Numbers, known as ICANN.
Paul Gentile, CUNA’s executive vice president of strategic communications, said claiming of the .creditunion name will provide a good marketing tool for credit unions and credit union-related organizations, as well as prevent non-credit union entities from using it.
The $185,000 cost of the application was paid jointly by CUNA, CUNA Mutual Group and CO-OP Financial Services.
ICANN, which announced in 2011 plans to broaden the number of approved top-level domain names beyond the handful of .com, .org, .gov, .edu, and.coop., is expected to issue final approval on thousands of new domain names by year-end. As part of the process, well-known U.S. companies have sought domain names to associate with their brands, like .Chevy or .AIG, and other financial services categories like .bank and .insure are in the process of being created.
CUNA has already set up a mechanism for credit unions to register their interest. Credit unions can email dotcreditunion@cuna.coop for questions or comments.
CUNA also plans to work with the World Council of CUs and foreign regulatory authorities so that credit unions around the world can use .creditunion.
