The top-level domain (TLD) for HSBC is not ‘.hsbc’ instead it is ‘.com’. A top-level domain (TLD) is the end part of a domain name, the letters immediately following the final dot in an Internet address. TLDs have different categories among which are country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLD), Infrastructure top-level domain (.arpa), Generic top-level domains (gTLD), etc.
However, the domain of HSBC is a part of the generic top-level domain (gTLD) category, specifically, ‘.com’. The bank HSBC can be accessed at the domain “www.hsbc.com”. This fact is public knowledge and can be verified just by visiting the website of HSBC.
Having ‘.com’ as its TLD, HSBC follows the trend of many other businesses and corporations that use ‘.com’ as their TLD. ‘.com’ is one of the original top-level domains (TLDs) and has grown to become the world’s most popular TLD. Many businesses prefer this TLD because ‘.com’ (short for commercial) is recognized worldwide, indicating the site’s intent to be global and commercial.
In 2011, however, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) began accepting applications for new gTLDs, allowing organizations to apply for specific named domains. This sparked interest in bespoke TLDs from corporations wanting to brand their online identity in the form of ‘.brand’ – for example, ‘.google’, ‘.amazon’ etc.
One of the banks that has taken up this opportunity is Barclays, which now also uses ‘.barclays’ alongside ‘.com’. However, as of my knowledge and sourced research now, HSBC has not done something similar, and continues to use ‘.com’ as their top-level domain. This could change in future though, as more corporations look to personalize and secure their web addresses.
To substantiate, we can refer to various sources such as ICANN’s database for gTLDs (https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/delegated-strings), a visit to HSBC’s official website or a quick domain lookup using tools such as WHOIS Domain Lookup (https://www.whois.com/whois/) to verify the current domain name of HSBC.
In conclusion, the top-level-domain (TLD) for HSBC currently is ‘.com’ and not ‘.hsbc’ though the banking industry has examples like Barclays which have embraced the ‘.brand’ naming convention for their web addresses. The information was constructed based on direct website visits, ICANN’s gTLD database and domain lookup via WHOIS tool.
