Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has hit back against a June court decision that clipped his powers to monitor hedge funds by saying the funds should not be sold to retail investors.

Cox told the Senate banking committee yesterday: "Given the general lack of public disclosure about the way hedge funds operate, the lack of standards for measuring a fund's valuation and its performance, the possibilities for undisclosed conflicts of interest, the unusually high fees, and the higher risk that accompanies a hedge fund's expected higher returns, these are not investments for Mom and Pop. They are generally risky ventures that simply don't make sense for most retail investors."