(BRUSSELS) - EU nations reached agreement Wednesday, though not unanimously, on boosting supervision of the increasingly multinational insurance sector.

The deal was sealed, at the expense of one of the initial project's key elements, thanks to a compromise put forward by the French EU presidency to national representatives, sources close to the talks said.

Some member states, including Britain, Denmark, Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands continued to oppose the measures but could not muster the necessary blocking minority, one source said.

The text will now go forward for approval by European Union financial ministers and the EU parliament, after months of intense negotiations.

The new package intends to make sure that national supervisors of insurance groups operating in Europe cooperate more closely in view of the transnational nature of the operations involved.

The debate took on an a heightened intensity amid the global financial crisis which threw a glaring light on the lack of control over excessive risk-taking by some finance groups.

Specifically, the final deal foresees the creation of "colleges" of national supervisors in charge of companies based in several countries. The supervisor operating where an insurance group is headquartered would have the final say on evaluating risk.

The scheme would also create a new European committee of supervisors charged with looking at best practice in matters of surveillance and discussing how to further harmonise methods used nationally.

One casualty of the French compromise deal was a European Commission initiative to give national supervisors of a parent company special powers to decide on the level of funding needed for affiliates in other countries.

Many member states opposed that measure, according to sources.

The lack of agreement comes as Europe calls for more global coordination on supervising financial markets, at the recent G20 summit and elsewhere.

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