1.   Three or more natural or legal persons shall constitute a single risk, where two or more of those persons constitute a single risk by means of control in accordance with Article 1 (control group) and one or more natural or legal persons are connected to one or more of the persons that are part of the control group by means of economic dependency in accordance with Article 2.

2.   Where the person that is connected by means of economic dependency as referred to in paragraph 1 is part of another group of connected clients, all persons, either being controlled by that economically dependent person or being themselves economically dependent on that person, shall also constitute a single risk with the persons of the control group referred to in paragraph 1.

3.   By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 and 2, where, in exceptional cases, an institution is able to demonstrate that no single risk prevails despite the circumstances referred to in those paragraphs being met with regard to three or more natural or legal persons, the institution may not identify those persons as a group of connected clients.