20/03/2019 (Agence Europe) – On Wednesday 20 March, the Committee of Permanent Representatives in the European Union (Coreper) approved three interinstitutional agreements aimed at strengthening the capital-markets union. They gave the go-ahead to the agreement reached in early March on the proposal for a Regulation to facilitate access by European SMEs to capital markets (see EUROPE 12208/13) and, in particular, to ‘SMEs Growth Markets’ and to the agreement on the proposal to create a European label (see EUROPE 12203/4) for covered bonds. Coreper also approved the agreement reached at the end of February on the new prudential framework for investment firms accompanied by the strengthened system of equivalence (see EUROPE 12203/3), as well as two other key texts regarding the monitoring of clearing houses set up in the European Union and in non-Member States (see EUROPE 12214/22). (MF)