¹ The supervisory organisation may carry out the audit of its supervised persons and entities itself or arrange for it to be carried out by an audit company that:

a.

is licensed as an auditor by the Federal Audit Oversight Authority in accordance with Article 6 of the Auditor Oversight Act of 16 December 2005⁸⁸;

b.

is adequately organised for this audit; and

c.

does not perform any other activity requiring authorisation under the financial market acts.

² For audits conducted by an audit company in accordance with paragraph 1, a lead auditor must be appointed who:

a.

is licensed by the Federal Audit Oversight Authority as an auditor in accordance with Article 5 of the Audit Oversight Act;

b.

possesses the required specialist knowledge and practical experience to conduct the audit in accordance with paragraph 1.

³ Articles 24 paragraphs 2–5 and 24a–28a apply by analogy.

⁴ If so ordered by the supervisory organisation, the supervised persons and entities must make an advance payment to cover costs.