1.Where insurance undertakings established in different Member States are directly or indirectly related or have a common participating undertaking, the competent authorities of each Member State shall communicate to one another on request all relevant information which may allow or facilitate the exercise of supervision pursuant to this Directive and shall communicate on their own initiative any information which appears to them to be essential for the other competent authorities.
2.Where an insurance undertaking and either a credit institution as defined in Directive 77/780/EEC (10) or an investment firm as defined in Directive 93/22/EEC (11), or both, are directly or indirectly related or have a common participating undertaking, the competent authorities and the authorities with public responsibility for the supervision of those other undertakings shall cooperate closely. Without prejudice to their respective responsibilities, those authorities shall provide one another with any information likely to simplify their task, in particular within the framework of this Directive.
3.Information received pursuant to this Directive and, in particular, any exchange of information between competent authorities which is provided for in this Directive shall be subject to the obligation of professional secrecy defined in Article 16 of Directive 92/49/EEC and Article 15 of Directive 92/96/EEC.