Sun, Oct 5, 2025

.SWIFTCOVER New gTLD Application

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New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: Swiftcover Insurance Services Limited

String: SWIFTCOVER

Originally Posted: 13 June 2012

Application ID: 1-1834-24645

 

Applicant Information

 

  1. Full legal name

Swiftcover Insurance Services Limited

 

  1. Address of the principal place of business

74 Portsmouth Road

Cobham Surrey KT11 1HY

GB

 

  1. Phone number

+44 0 193 259 1173

 

  1. Fax number

+44 0 871 271 1113

 

  1. If applicable, website or URL

http:⁄⁄www.swiftcover.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. Matt Potashnick

 

7(b). Title

Technical Director

 

7(c). Address

 

7(d). Phone Number

+44 0 1932 591214

 

7(e). Fax Number

+44 0 871 271 1113

 

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

Private Limited Company

 

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

Companies Act 2006 Chapter 46, especially Part 5, Chapter 2, Section 59 and following:

http:⁄⁄www.legislation.gov.uk⁄ukpga⁄2006⁄46⁄section⁄59

 

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.

 

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

AXA UK plc (registered in England under No 78950)

 

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

Jean Paul Dominique Louis Drouffe AXA UK France, Risk and Strategy Director

Stephen Nicholas Hardy CEO

Waseem Ullah Malik Finance Director

 

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

Jean Paul Dominique Louis Drouffe AXA UK France, Risk and Strategy Director

Stephen Nicholas Hardy CEO

Waseem Ullah Malik Finance Director

 

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

AXA UK plc Not Applicable

 

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.

SWIFTCOVER

 

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 .swiftcover 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 .swiftcover 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. Reflect and operate Applicant’s key and most distinctive brand (“SWIFTCOVER”) at the top level of the DNS’ hierarchy;

 

  1. Provide stakeholders of the Applicant, including subsidiaries, and their respective suppliers, customers, sponsorships, and their respective directors, officers, employees, 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 stakeholders in SWIFTCOVER brands with the opportunity to create a secure and safe Internet environment that is mainly or even fully under control of the Applicant and⁄or such stakeholders.

 

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

  1. SWIFTCOVER is the Applicant’s most recognized brand, having international exposure. The Applicant is part of one of the world’s largest insurance groups, namely AXA (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 the British insurance market. The proposed gTLD aims at consolidating the reputation of the Applicant’s brand;

 

  1. From the Applicant’s perspective, .swiftcover 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 .swiftcover top-level domain will be unambiguous as regards the identity of the Registry Operator, the source of the content and services offered under the . SWIFTCOVER and⁄or the affiliation between the Registry Operator and the TLD;

 

  1. As mentioned in the vision ⁄ mission statement before, some of the key reasons why Applicant is applying for .swiftcover are:
  2. Marketing and branding: reflect the Applicant’s key brand SWIFTCOVER at the top-level of the DNS’ hierarchy,
  3. Safety and 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;
  4. Affiliation between the core SWIFTCOVER brand and the hundreds of product and service brands registered and⁄or used by SWIFTCOVER and⁄or its subsidiaries in their day-to-day business;

 

  1. The Applicant intends to implement the following policies and procedures with respect to the registration of domain names in the .swiftcover top-level domain to include but not limited to:
  2. Reservation of domain names in the name of the Applicant. These names include:
  3. a) descriptive names, referring to the actual day-to-day business activities of the Applicant and⁄or its subsidiaries;
  4. b) descriptive names, referring to the internal departments of the Applicant;
  5. c) descriptive names, referring to the subsidiaries of the Applicant;
  6. d) product and service brands promoted by the Applicant and⁄or its subsidiaries now and in the future;
  7. e)

 

  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 (SWIFTCOVER). 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 England and Wales, 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 company was founded in 2005 by senior executives from within the insurance industry, and aiming to offer services exclusively through the Internet. Ever since that date, the Applicant has been trading under the SWIFTCOVER brand and domain name (Swiftcover.com). Since its establishment, the Applicant has become a major player in the British insurance market. In 2011, the Applicant won the Customer Care Award at the British Insurance Awards. Therefore, the Applicant has different ways in order to make existing and future clients, visitors and stakeholders aware of the (gradual) move from the Applicant’s SWIFTCOVER.com domain name to the .swiftcover TLD, including but not limited to:
  2. Internet advertising campaigns;
  3. having Internet traffic to its key domain names resolving into domain names registered in the .swiftcover TLD;
  4. 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 .swiftcover 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 .swiftcover 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 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;
  2. 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 .swiftcover top-level domain;
  3. 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 intends to make the .swiftcover 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 .swiftcover 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 .swiftcover TLD.