TD Waterhouse Group Inc.: A Definite Solution to Doubtful Accounts

The Challenge

When ICON met with the country’s largest online financial-services provider, it was in the midst of addressing a portfolio of uncollected consumer debt from customers who had lost money in the stock market’s now-legendary dot-com meltdown.

This crippled cashU.S. federal banknotes; one of ICON's financial options. flow and put an otherwise successful business unit at risk. Then 9/11 happened only blocks from the firm’s New York City offices, and prospects for timely collections all but vanished.

How ICON Uncovered Value

After a rigorous due diligence process, ICON purchased several-million-dollar's-worth of doubtful accounts at full assessed value with cash. In return, TD Waterhouse (TDW) committed to placing a prescribed amount of its annual media budget through ICON over a four-year period. Did it work? “We couldn’t have asked for better results,” said one TDW senior executive, "There was not one issue I can think of, not one, from beginning to end.”

Result

As the first transaction began to wind down, TDW’s marketing department reached out to ICON with another challenge. Following a change in strategy, the company’s naming rights to the Orlando Center, home of the NBA Orlando Magic, had become less attractive. Still, the rights included local street names and other amenities too valuable to lose. Rather than remarket that property to a new owner, ICON fully funded TDW’s naming obligation through the contract period in exchange for trade creditAn alternative currency used in the corporate barter industry; one of ICON's financial options. (Note that this term is properly used only in the singular, i.e., never trade credits.).