1. In Article 16 of Directive 92/49/EEC, the following paragraph shall be inserted:

'5a. Notwithstanding paragraphs 1 to 4, Member States may authorize exchanges of information between the competent authorities and:

- the authorities responsible for overseeing the bodies involved in the liquidation and bankruptcy of financial undertakings and other similar procedures, or

- the authorities responsible for overseeing the persons charged with carrying out statutory audits of the accounts of insurance undertakings, credit institutions, investment firms and other financial institutions, or

- independent actuaries of insurance undertakings carrying out legal supervision of those undertakings and the bodies responsible for overseeing such actuaries.

Member States which have recourse to the option provided for in the first subparagraph shall require at least that the following conditions are met:

- this information shall be for the purpose of carrying out the overseeing or legal supervision referred to in the first subparagraph,

- information received in this context will be subject to the conditions of professional secrecy imposed in paragraph 1,

- where the information originates in another Member State, it may not be disclosed without the express agreement of the competent authorities which have disclosed it and, where appropriate, solely for the purposes for which those authorities gave their agreement.