JAMIE WILLIAMSON   A former NAB financial adviser has been charged with two offences following an investigation by ASIC.ELIZABETH MCARTHUR   ASIC has banned a Gold Coast financial adviser from providing financial services for six years.

KANIKA SOOD   The $120 billion fund manager is finding winners in cannabis stocks as countries increasingly move to legalise marijuana for medicinal use.KANIKA SOOD   Colonial First State has trimmed its platforms fees, in a move it says will save $68 million in annual fees for 500,000 members.

KANIKA SOOD   CommInsure and AMP recorded significant declines in group risk premium inflows for the year ending December 2018, latest Strategic Insight data shows.KARREN VERGARA   Freedom Insurance Group will offload its administration and financial advice businesses, and eventually cease operations.

KARREN VERGARA   A new one-stop-shop SMSF solution that aims to help financial advisers keep on top of administrative and regulatory burdens has launched.HARRISON WORLEY   SMSF solutions provider Heffron has appointed a new managing director.

BENJAMIN ONG   China deserves to be congratulated. It's watered and fertilised the economy with enough monetary and fiscal stimulus that green shoots are beginning to appearBENJAMIN ONG   The timely counter-cyclical measures by both the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and the country's fiscal authorities are starting to bear fruit.

KARREN VERGARA   Personal tax cuts and the $7.1 billion estimated surplus announced were the main highlights of this year's Budget, Financial Standard's latest straw poll shows.KANIKA SOOD   Australia's active ETF industry could benefit as the US securities regulator softens its stance on daily disclosures for the segment.

KARREN VERGARA   A $33 billion superannuation fund appointed a group insurance expert as its new head of insurance.ELIZABETH MCARTHUR   An independent investment consultancy has welcomed the former chief investment officer of Commonwealth Bank Group Super as it looks to expand its Australian operations.

HARRISON WORLEY   Sargon has been appointed trustee of a new superannuation fund offered by a specialist insurance company.KARREN VERGARA   Concern the superannuation industry will become an oligopoly like the banking sector is being fuelled by the regulators' new powers and increased funding, specifically aimed at forcing underperforming funds to merge or shut down.

ELIZABETH MCARTHUR   Former Commonwealth Bank and Westpac chief information officer Bob McKinnon is tasked with the tough job of chairing the New Payments Platform (NPP) through its rollout.ELIZABETH MCARTHUR   Australian digital assets investment firm TCM Global Asset Management (formerly Token Capital Management) is making its first international foray.

HARRISON WORLEY   Latest research shows Australia lost close to half a trillion dollars in wealth at the end of 2018.KANIKA SOOD   L1 Capital's latest UK residential property fund is expecting to raise between $60 million and $70 million as financial planning groups and rich investors hunt opportunities for attractive yields.