Five At Five: A Brighter Retail Forecast For 2018

Welcome to the Five at Five, your late look at the day’s payments and commerce news. Today’s coverage includes the newest sales figures from the National Retail Federation (NRF), along with two stories about new revenue paths for Amazon. Citigroup has let go of a payments executive, and initial coin offering (ICO) exit scams are taking a toll.

NRF Increases Sales Forecast For 2018

Retail sales are expected to rise by at least 4.5 percent over 2017, compared to the 3.8 percent to 4.4 percent range that was projected earlier in the year.

Amazon Ad Revenue To Surpass Cloud Sales By 2021

Amazon Web Services (AWS) may be the driver of growth for the eCommerce giant now, but Piper Jaffray predicts that, in three years’ time, advertising will bring in more revenue for Amazon.

Amazon Business Invoicing Feature Takes Effect

With Amazon’s new invoicing service, companies get a credit for selling their merchandise on Amazon accounts. However, buyers don’t have to actually make a payment when they hit the buy button. Instead, they’re invoiced and have the option to have an extended payment due date.

Citigroup’s Jud Linville To Leave As Part Of Executive Reshuffling

The CEO of global cards and consumer services will leave the bank as part of executive reshuffling, as Citigroup is overhauling the executives in its global consumer banking businesses.

Investors Have Lost Close To $100M In ICO Scams

Based on new research from Diar, a blockchain intelligence firm, close to $100 million in cryptocurrency has been stolen via initial coin offering (ICO) exit scams.