S.E.C. Chief Looks to Regain Power Over Hedge Funds

By JENNY ANDERSON

WASHINGTON, July 25 — The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Christopher Cox, told a Senate panel on Tuesday that the regulatory framework governing hedge funds was inadequate, but he declined to ask Congress for additional authority to police the industry.

Instead, Mr. Cox told the Senate Banking Committee that he would ask the commission to adopt measures to regain some of the authority it lost a month ago, when a federal appeals court ruled that the S.E.C. could not require hedge funds to register.

Among the measures Mr. Cox will recommend to the commission is changing the rules on who can invest in hedge funds, increasing the net-worth threshold for an individual or couple to $1.5 million or more from $1 million today.

“I am concerned that the current definition, which is decades old, is not only out of date but wholly inadequate to protect unsophisticated investors from the complex risks of investment in most hedge funds,” he said.