The Policy Board for Financial Services and Regulation ("the Policy Board"), a statutory body in terms of the Policy Board for Financial Services and Regulation Act, 1993, was recently reconstituted to include more representation of stakeholders of the financial system in South Africa. Ms Gill Marcus, Deputy Governor of the South African Reserve Bank ("SARB"), follows Dr C J de Swardt as chair. Other members of the reconstituted board include representatives of consumer bodies, industry associations and regulators.The main task of the board is to advise the Minister of Finance on policy matters with regard to the regulatory framework for financial services. An ancillary objective of the Policy Board's activities is that it ensures competitive neutrality between different functional aspects of financial legislation. At its recent meetings, the Policy Board compiled strategic objectives for its statutory two-year term. Examples of issues that will be addressed by the Board are regulation for financial advisers, robustness of the financial system and fairness for all. The Policy Board has adopted a normative framework in order to ensure that all relevant aspects of financial services and regulation, under the overriding objectives of stability, fairness and efficiency, will receive appropriate priority and attention. The framework is based on a target-instrument approach, following the international best practice. Matters considered by the Policy Board require wide consultation and exposure before recommendations are submitted to the Ministry of Finance. In this regard, the Policy Board will appoint a number of task teams to focus on identified projects. Consultants will in some cases be appointed to participate in these task teams. Frequent publications are planned in order to enhance transparency and communication about the financial system and its functioning.In a related development, Dr Hans Falkena, who has been a member of the Policy Board since its inception, has been appointed by the SARB to focus full time on projects related to the programme of the Policy Board. He will work closely with the newly established Financial Stability Unit of the SARB, which also provides the secretariat services for the Policy Board.