MULBERRY, Fla.-Magnify Credit Union could shed the traditional, generic ".com" domain next year and emerge with a precise, creative online identity: www.magnify.cu.
But that's not going to happen, said John Santarpia, president and CEO at the $92-million Magnify here. Magnify has no plans to apply for magnify.cu when custom domain suffixes become available in January, he said.
That's because .com and .org are the two domains to bank on, Santarpia explained. "Ninety-nine percent of consumers enter magnifycu.com into the address bar hoping to find us. The consumer doesn't care if the domain extension is .cu."
Magnify currently manages about 20 domains with .com or .org extensions, he said.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will allow companies and individuals to operate custom "top-level" domains beginning in January, creating extensions that could include ".cu," ".finance" or ".loan."
Theoretically, such extensions could be reserved for bona fide financial institutions, thus precisely identifying the nature of the business and reducing phishing to boot.
Back in the real world, several CUs told Credit Union Journal that they have no plans to purchase custom top-level domains; after all, ICANN will charge $185,000 for each domain application and $25,000 annually.
"Just about anyone could create and operate a new custom domain extension if they are willing to cough up the cash to apply for and operate it," suggested Eric Bangerter, director, Internet services at Madison, Wis.-based UWCU. The $1.4-billion CU currently spends about $1,500 per year to manage 71 domains, including uwcreditunion.biz and universityofwisconsincreditunion.coop.
UWCU tries to secure the UWCU version of any domain, according to Bangerter. "We mainly do this to prevent anyone trying to set up a site to trick our members."
'A Bad Option'
"The custom top-level domains are a bad option that can spiral costs out of control, and we hope the concept does not reach fruition," added Rick Rhoads, SVP, eServices at the $23-billion SECU in Raleigh, N.C., which owns 81 domains at a total annual cost of about $2,000. "The custom domains offer a great revenue opportunity for domain administrators, but the domains will be confusing to consumers."
A custom domain doesn't appeal to San Jose, Calif.-based Meriwest CU, said Tony Cortez, VP-marketing at the $1.1-billion CU, which currently operates 45 domains at a total cost of about $1,500 annually. "There's really no reason to make that type of an investment into something that doesn't appear to have much of an upside."
If Meriwest can't afford meriwest.cu or meriwest.bank, those domains could become phishing farms or even competitors. "You couldn't prevent another company or individual from running a custom domain extension" like meriwest.cu, said Cortez. "But that's an expensive proposition" for a fraudster or competitor to undertake.
"It would be a lot of money for a fraudster to spend on something that wouldn't be particularly lucrative," agreed Bangerter. "I think it is very unlikely to happen."
CUs should follow FFIEC guidance to detect and prevent online fraud related to custom top-level domains, according to David Small, NCUA spokesperson. The NCUA itself will not purchase custom domains, he said.
Even if the credit unions interviewed could afford custom domain extensions, they said they probably wouldn't market them. "I have no plans on using any of the domains as uwcu.org has been our branded domain since 1996," Bangerter said.
In fact, Jeff Johnson, SVP, CIO at $1.4-billion BCU in Vernon Hills, Ill., which currently spends about $1,500 annually on 48 domains, said he sees a "downside" to the customizations. "Our members recognize bcu.org, and redirecting them or having them type a new domain extension may trigger fears of redirecting to a hacker site."
ICANN's current collection of 22 top-level domains:
.aero .asia .biz .cat .com .coop .edu .gov .info .int .jobs .mil .mobi .museum .name .net .org .post .pro .tel .travel .xxx
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