Thanks, Rubens.

I would support your call for also including insurance (or even a bank guarantee of some kind) as another more accessible alternatives, in addition to LoC, especially for Global South applicants. As you exemplified, it is about recognizing the challenge of not having easy "access" to US dollars within some countries' banking and monetary regulatory systems as a barrier which can and should be overcome.

Kind regards,
Justine

On Sat, 1 Jun 2024 at 07:59, Rubens Kuhl <rubensk@nic.br> wrote:

> Em 31 de mai. de 2024, à(s) 20:19, Justine Chew <justine.chew.icann@gmail.com> escreveu:
>
> Hi Rubens,
>
> Understood. We're not looking to replace the cash deposit, but to allow suitable alternatives especially for Global South applicants that may not have easy "access" to US dollars within their own banking or monetary ~~regulation~~ regulatory systems.

In the 1/3 of the Global South I live in, Latin America, I can see three countries where getting USD transfers could be challenging: Cuba, Venezuela and Argentina. Two of those (Cuba and Venezuela) could also be challenging to pass OFAC clearance, but Argentina is a more interesting example since it’s more about shortage of USD than an issue with international relations.

Perhaps adding LoC and insurance as alternatives for select geographies ? For instance, besides making a cash deposit, the 2nd easiest way to get an alternative way to provide guarantees where I live is insurance, which is what we usually do for governmental contracts. LoC’s were real-real-real-really hard to get in 2012, but other jurisdictions could be the other way around.

Rubens