Thu, Aug 21, 2025

.AXA New gTLD Application

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New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: AXA SA

String: AXA

Originally Posted: 13 June 2012

Application ID: 1-1746-50891

 

Applicant Information

 

  1. Full legal name

AXA SA

 

  1. Address of the principal place of business

25, avenue Matignon

Paris  75008

FR

 

  1. Phone number

+33 1 4075 5700

 

  1. Fax number

+33 1 4075 4792

 

  1. If applicable, website or URL

http:⁄⁄www.axa.com

 

Primary Contact

 

6(a). Name

Mr. Christopher Niemi

 

6(b). Title

Domain Operations Supervisor

 

6(c). Address

 

6(d). Phone Number

+1 208 685 1857

 

6(e). Fax Number

+1 208 389 5771

 

6(f). Email Address

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Secondary Contact

 

7(a). Name

Mr. Yann Bry

 

7(b). Title

Head of Digital Business

 

7(c). Address

 

7(d). Phone Number

+33 1 40 75 55 24

 

7(e). Fax Number

+33 1 40 75 48 75

 

7(f). Email Address

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Proof of Legal Establishment

 

8(a). Legal form of the Applicant

Société Anonyme (limited public company)

 

8(b). State the specific national or other jursidiction that defines the type of entity identified in 8(a).

French Commercial Code, Code de commerce, Livre II, Titre II, Chapitre V, Articles L225-1 and following http:⁄⁄www.legifrance.gouv.fr⁄affichCode.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000005634379&dateTexte=vig

 

8(c). Attach evidence of the applicant's establishment.

Attachments are not displayed on this form.

 

9(a). If applying company is publicly traded, provide the exchange and symbol.

Euronext;FR0000120628 CS

 

9(b). If the applying entity is a subsidiary, provide the parent company.

 

9(c). If the applying entity is a joint venture, list all joint venture partners.

 

Applicant Background

 

11(a). Name(s) and position(s) of all directors

Anthony Hamilton Director

Denis Duverne Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Director

Dominique Reiniche Director

François Martineau Director

Giuseppe Mussari Director

Henri de la Croix de Castries Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer

Isabelle Kocher (Thabut) Director

Jean-Martin Folz Director

Marcus Schenck Director

Michel Pébereau Director

Norbert Dentressangle Director

Raymond de Oliveira – Cezar Director

Suet Fern Lim Director

Wendy Cooper Director

 

11(b). Name(s) and position(s) of all officers and partners

Denis Duverne Deputy Chief Executive Officer of AXA in charge of Finance, Strategy and Operations

Henri de la Croix de Castries Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer

 

11(c). Name(s) and position(s) of all shareholders holding at least 15% of shares

 

11(d). For an applying entity that does not have directors, officers, partners, or shareholders: Name(s) and position(s) of all individuals having legal or executive responsibility

 

Applied-for gTLD string

 

  1. Provide the applied-for gTLD string. If an IDN, provide the U-label.

AXA

 

14(a). If an IDN, provide the A-label (beginning with "xn--").

 

14(b). If an IDN, provide the meaning or restatement of the string in English, that is, a description of the literal meaning of the string in the opinion of the applicant.

 

14(c). If an IDN, provide the language of the label (in English).

 

14(c). If an IDN, provide the language of the label (as referenced by ISO-639-1).

 

14(d). If an IDN, provide the script of the label (in English).

 

14(d). If an IDN, provide the script of the label (as referenced by ISO 15924).

 

14(e). If an IDN, list all code points contained in the U-label according to Unicode form.

 

15(a). If an IDN, Attach IDN Tables for the proposed registry.

Attachments are not displayed on this form.

 

15(b). Describe the process used for development of the IDN tables submitted, including consultations and sources used.

 

15(c). List any variant strings to the applied-for gTLD string according to the relevant IDN tables.

 

  1. Describe the applicant's efforts to ensure that there are no known operational or rendering problems concerning the applied-for gTLD string. If such issues are known, describe steps that will be taken to mitigate these issues in software and other applications.

The Applicant has consulted various experts in the field of domain names, including its selected back-end registry operator, who is currently managing various TLDs, including but not limited to .BIZ, .US, .TEL, .TRAVEL and .CO. Furthermore, the extension .axa is a string that entirely consists of standard US ASCII characters, as is the case with most extensions currently available in the DNS.

 

Therefore, to the Applicant’s best knowledge and belief, no specific issues are to be expected as regards the operation and rendering of the .axa gTLD.

 

  1. (OPTIONAL) Provide a representation of the label according to the International Phonetic Alphabet (http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/).

 

Mission/Purpose

 

18(a). Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD.

According to the Applicant, the purpose of the TLD is manifold, as will be further explained below:

 

  1. Consolidate AXA brand #1 ranking

- Reflect and operate applicant’s key and most distinctive brand (“AXA”) at the top level of the DNS hierarchy

- Consolidate the internet AXA environment with a unique extension;

 

  1. Provide stakeholders of the Applicant, such as entities, internal departments, distributors, subcontractors, business partners, customers (individuals and companies), shareholders, press, candidates, with a recognizable and trusted identifier on the Internet;

 

  1. Provide such stakeholders with a secure and safe Internet environment that is mainly or even fully under the control of the Applicant and its subcontractors;

 

  1. Provide selected AXA stakeholders with the opportunity to create and or manage a secure and safe Internet environment that is mainly or even fully under control of the Applicant and⁄or such stakeholders;

 

  1. Transversal initiative

- Strengthen cohesion both externally and internally

- Investment for long term web development;

 

  1. Protection of the brand in the short term;

 

  1. Increase AXA’s control and visibility on the web;

- Wide perimeter of use (ST ⁄ LT);

- Easily modifiable and cancellable domain names;

 

  1. Improve the visibility and consistency of distributors and partners online presence (formalized domain names);

 

  1. Rejuvenate distribution models through digital as web is more and more a point of passage for sales and pre sales process;

 

  1. Enhance the consistency between the departments by setting in common priorities defined for IT, Marketing, Distribution;

 

  1. Enable multiple web opportunities for specific client segments.

 

18(b). How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

  1. AXA is the Applicant’s most recognized brand, having international exposure. The Applicant is one of the world’s largest insurance groups (Rated A by Standard & Poorʹs). The Group has one of the largest international networks with operations in 61 countries and counts with more than 200,000 employees. The Applicant has key positions in its three core businesses: Property & casualty insurance, Life & savings and Asset management. Present in geographically diverse markets, the Applicant’s Group operations are concentrated in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, with also a presence in Middle East and South and Central America. The proposed gTLD aims at consolidating the reputation of the Applicant’s brand;

 

  1. The expected benefits are :

 

- Visibility: .axa will bring a high degree of recognition and specialization to the currently existing name space. Where in most cases the specific connotation that has been initially given to the gTLDs (or even ccTLDs) has disappeared, the .axa top-level domain will be unambiguous as regards the identity of the Registry Operator, the source of the content and services offered under the .axa and⁄or the affiliation between the Registry Operator and the TLD

- Consistency: .axa should enable to consolidate the whole presence of the firm and its partners on internet. Indeed, AXA is a worldwide company that intervenes on several business lines with a large range of products and numerous partners. A common gTLD would be the easiest and most effective way to unify the presence of the group on the web

- Brand protection: AXA is the #1 insurance brands in the world. Therefore it needs to take all the precautions to ensure the protection of the brand especially at a digital level

- Safety ⁄ security: .axa will enhance the level of security given the fact that the TLD and most if not all of the domain names registered therein will be completely or at least partially under the control of the Registry Operator. Security is both a priority for the customers and partners as it is the best way to ensure a safe environment on the web and also for the group as it enables AXA to manage effectively and with flexibility the creation, modification and cancellation of new domain names as well as monitor the content of the websites;

 

  1. As mentioned in the vision ⁄ mission statement before, some of the key reasons why the Applicant is applying for .axa are:

 

  1. Provide stakeholders of the Applicant with a recognizable and trusted identifier on the Internet;
  2. Provide such stakeholders with a secure and safe Internet environment that is mainly or even fully under the control of the Applicant and its subcontractors;
  3. Provide selected AXA stakeholders with the opportunity to create and or manage a secure and safe Internet environment that is mainly or even fully under control of the Applicant and⁄or such stakeholders;

 

  1. The Applicant intends to implement the following policies and procedures with respect to the registration of domain names in the .axa top-level domain to include but not limited to:

 

  1. Reservation of domain names in the name of the Applicant. These names include:
  2. a) Entities (almost 250 entities) that could be segmented by type (assistance, insurance, pension fund, art, retail bank, wine, internal provider, asset management, group management services…), implementation or other distinguishing factors;
  3. b) Business Lines; Life and Saving, property and casualty, banking, others (art, wine…etc) or business themes (home, motors, protection, travel, bank, saving, investment, retirement, insurance, real estate, investment managers…);
  4. c) Marketing related names: commercial campaigns, generic clients segments, companies segmentation (sme, large companies…), corporate themes (longevity, sustainable development, responsible firm…), stakeholders (shareholders, press, distributors…), clients, sponsoring activities, web TV, blogs, social networks…;
  5. d) Internal environment: employees, departments, internal projects, tools and platforms, intranet system, recruitment…;
  6. e) Partners: distributors, subcontractors, business partners, unions of agents ⁄ brokers…;
  7. f)

 

  1. Launch of the TLD:
  2. a) Sunrise: allow physical persons, organizations and entities that meet the eligibility requirements in force at that point in time to choose the domain names that are identical to their trademarks;
  3. b) General availability: other available domain names may be registered by physical persons, organizations and entities that meet the eligibility requirements in force at that point in time to choose the domain names in accordance with the applicable terms and conditions.
  4. c) Depending on the terms and conditions in force at the time of launch of the TLD, these domain names may or may not be registered in the name of the applicant for the domain name or in the name of the Applicant for the TLD (AXA). In any case, the Applicant reserves the right to impose additional and other restrictions from time to time at its sole discretion;

 

  1. Given the fact that the Applicant is a company that is established in France, it is subject to both national and European privacy and data protection rules and practices, to which the Applicant is committed to comply with.

 

  1. The Applicant’s Group was created through the merger of several insurance companies, the oldest of which was founded in Rouen in 1817, 10 months after the establishment of Franceʹs oldest insurance company. The AXA name was created in July 1985. Ever since that date, the Applicant has been trading under the AXA brand and later under the AXA domain name (axa.com). Since its establishment, the Applicant has become a major player at international level, with a worldwide reputation. In 2011, Interbrand considered the Applicant’s brand to be the world’s top global insurance brand for the second year in a row. Therefore, the Applicant has different ways in order to make existing and future clients, visitors and stakeholders aware of the (gradual) move from the AXA Group’s domain name portfolio to the .axa TLD, including but not limited to:

 

  1. integration into future internet⁄television⁄press advertising campaigns;
  2. having Internet traffic to its key domain names resolving into domain names registered in the .axa TLD;
  3. Integration into email marketing campaigns; etc.

 

18(c). What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs?

  1. The Applicant will organize the registry operation for the .axa in such a manner that it will minimize the likelihood of having multiple applications for a particular domain name. This can be achieved in one of the following ways:

 

  1. Given the fact that, at least prior to the launch of the .axa top-level domain, the Applicant ⁄ Registry Operator will reserve, delegate and use a large number of domain names that are directly or indirectly relevant to the Applicant’s business in its own name. Since quite a number of these domain names will be of a descriptive nature, the chances for qualifying ⁄ eligible applicants ⁄ registrants to register such domain names after the launch will be limited;

 

  1. The Registry Operator will release available domain names post launch in a highly controlled manner, which also reduces the likelihood that two or more applicants qualify for the registration of the same domain name in the .axa top-level domain;

 

  1. As a method of last resort, and subject to the actual domain name registration policy adopted by the Registry Operator and in force at the time of registration, domain names will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

 

  1. The Applicant initially intends to make the .axa top-level domain available to qualifying domain name registrants at no cost to them; The Applicant ⁄ Registry Operator may, at its discretion, charge a fee for the registration of domain names under the .axa TLD. Such fee and domain name registration may be part of a larger package of services offered by the Applicant or its subsidiaries.

 

  1. The Applicant ⁄ Registry Operator may at its discretion make contractual commitments to increase or decrease the fees for the registration of domain names under the .axa TLD.