Use case
Operational Resilience, Regulatory Compliance, Continuity
Industry
Financial services and financial market infrastructure
Services
Al Salam Bank is a leading Bahrain‑headquartered financial institution, established in 2006, with a strong reputation for delivering client-centric banking solutions supported by digital innovation, operational discipline, and a commitment to long-term value creation.
In recent years, Al Salam Bank has continued to advance its digital transformation journey, with a strong focus on enhancing client experience, improving operational efficiency, and supporting sustainable growth. This has included increased reliance on digital banking platforms, mobile banking applications, self-service capabilities, and technology‑enabled services across retail and corporate banking.
As digital channels became increasingly central to service delivery, the reliability, resilience, and availability of underlying technology systems became even more critical. Operating in a highly regulated environment, Al Salam Bank recognised the importance of further strengthening operational resilience and third‑party technology risk management to support the continuity of critical systems in the event of disruption.
Like many leading financial institutions, Al Salam Bank relies on a combination of proprietary and third-party software to support core banking operations, digital channels, compliance functions, and internal processes. Several of these systems are business-critical, meaning disruption could impact client service, operational continuity, regulatory obligations, and the Bank’s reputation.
A key area of focus was dependency on specialist software suppliers. In the event that a critical vendor becomes insolvent, withdraws support, or is unable to continue delivering services due to disruption, the Bank requires a structured and legally supported mechanism to help protect continuity and recovery options.
Without appropriate access to source code, technical documentation, and build instructions, the ability to maintain or recover selected critical systems could be constrained. From a business continuity perspective, this created a clear need to ensure that supplier dependency risks were appropriately identified, mitigated, and evidenced within the Bank’s broader operational resilience framework.
“As Al Salam Bank continues to accelerate its digital transformation journey, operational resilience must evolve at the same pace. Software escrow and source code verification are not simply compliance controls. They are strategic safeguards that protect service continuity, strengthen vendor governance, and ensure we maintain appropriate control over critical banking platforms under different disruption scenarios.”
– Hemantha Wijesinghe, CTO, Al Salam Bank
Al Salam Bank is regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), which places strong emphasis on operational resilience, business continuity management (BCM), and third-party risk management.
Within the regulatory expectations applicable to financial institutions in Bahrain, banks are expected to maintain robust frameworks to identify, assess, manage, and mitigate risks that could affect the continuity of critical services. This includes risks arising from outsourced arrangements, specialist technology providers, and other third-party dependencies.
In this context, financial institutions are expected to consider how critical systems and services would continue during disruption, including scenarios where vendor support may become unavailable. This requires clear business impact analysis, risk assessment, documented recovery arrangements, and appropriate regular testing or assurance mechanisms.
For Al Salam Bank, this meant identifying a solution that could support its business continuity management framework, strengthen third-party technology risk controls, and provide clear evidence of preparedness in relation to selected business-critical systems.
To address these requirements, Al Salam Bank implemented Software Escrow and Source Code Verification with Escode, as part of its broader operational resilience and technology governance strategy.
The solution was designed to support business continuity, strengthen third-party risk management, and provide an additional safeguard for selected critical systems in the event of supplier failure or service disruption.
Software escrow establishes a legal agreement between the software supplier, the client, and an independent escrow agent. Under this arrangement, critical materials, including source code, technical documentation, and build instructions, are securely deposited and held by Escode.
Pre-defined release conditions are agreed contractually. These may include scenarios such as supplier insolvency, cessation of support, or failure to meet contractual obligations. If a release condition is triggered, Al Salam Bank gains legal access to the escrowed materials, supporting its ability to maintain continuity and take appropriate recovery actions in line with its business continuity plans.
For Al Salam Bank, software escrow directly supported operational resilience by reducing exposure to selected third-party technology dependencies and strengthening preparedness for supplier failure scenarios. It also provided an additional governance mechanism aligned with the Bank’s focus on continuity, control, and regulatory readiness.
“Our technology transformation strategy is built on speed, resilience, and long-term sustainability. As we modernise core platforms and expand digital channels, reducing dependency on critical third parties becomes essential. Software escrow provides the assurance that business-critical systems remain recoverable, maintainable, and fully aligned with our regulatory and operational standards.”
– Ahmed Buqais, Deputy Chief Technology Officer, Al Salam Bank
To strengthen the escrow arrangement, Al Salam Bank also implemented source code verification. This process helps validate that deposited materials are complete, accurate, and usable.
As part of verification, escrowed materials are reviewed and tested to confirm whether the software can be rebuilt using the deposited source code and supporting documentation. Through collaborative work with the software vendor, Escode produces a verification report that documents and validates the software build process, providing additional assurance that the escrow arrangement is practical, not only contractual.
For Al Salam Bank, verification enhanced confidence that the escrowed materials could support recovery planning if required. It also provided documented evidence that supplier failure scenarios had been considered, and that appropriate safeguards were in place for selected business-critical systems.
With software escrow and verification in place, Al Salam Bank has enhanced its operational resilience toolkit and strengthened its approach to third-party technology risk management.
The Bank now has a clearer contractual and technical safeguard to support access to critical software systems if a supplier becomes unavailable. This supports continuity planning for banking services, strengthens vendor governance, and reinforces the Bank’s ability to manage supplier dependency risk across selected critical systems.
By embedding escrow and verification into its resilience strategy, Al Salam Bank has further supported its digital transformation agenda while maintaining a strong focus on continuity, governance, client service, and regulatory alignment.
“We work with leading financial institutions in the region to support operational resilience as reliance on critical software grows. With increased regulatory focus on operational risk management, software escrow supported by verification plays an important role in managing third‑party dependency and strengthening governance around critical systems.”
– Alex McCulloch,
Director of Market Development (Middle East)
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