Regulatory requirements increasingly hold organisations accountable for the availability, security, and continuity of critical third‑party software. For risk officers, compliance teams, and technology leaders, this means managing third‑party risk associated with proprietary software, SaaS platforms, and critical applications.
Software escrow plays a key role in addressing these regulatory expectations. By placing source code, build materials, and documentation with an independent third party, organisations can demonstrate proactive controls for vendor failure, insolvency, cyber incidents, or service disruption, all of which are explicitly referenced across financial services, healthcare, and public sector regulations.
Importantly, adopting software escrow before it is explicitly mandated signals strong governance and maturity in third‑party risk management. It reassures regulators, auditors, and customers that your organisation has taken reasonable steps to protect business‑critical systems, meet continuity obligations, and reduce dependency on single suppliers.
Software escrow is a recognised control for managing third‑party technology risk and meeting regulatory expectations around operational resilience, outsourcing, and business continuity. By placing source code, build artefacts, and critical documentation with an independent third party, organisations can demonstrate that they have taken reasonable and proportionate steps to mitigate supplier failure risk.
As the global leader in software escrow, Escode manages escrow agreements in line with recognised industry standards and regulatory guidance, providing robust governance, secure storage, and controlled release processes. This delivers clear, auditable evidence that third‑party software risks are identified, documented, and actively managed, supporting regulatory reviews, internal audits, and ongoing supervisory engagement.
Software escrow and verification are commonly recommended as practical measures to satisfy DORA's expectations for recover ability and exit readiness.
In line with PRA SS2/21, we offer escrow services which support stressed exit planning and provide auditable documentation for supervisory review.
Recent FFIEC guidance explicitly calls out oversight of escrow. We can help validate and verify your assets in escrow and clarity release event contract detail.
Omer Ahmed Khan
Avanza Solutions
Software escrow agreements secure access to software source code, access credentials, and related material, ensuring firms can maintain operations and meet business continuity requirements. Learn more.
Escrow verification confirms that the deposited material is correct and can be rebuilt into the working application, supporting requirements for tested recovery procedures and documented response plans. Learn more.
Our SaaS Escrow solution, EaaS, provides firms with access and recovery options for cloud-based services, supporting compliance with DORA’s ICT third-party risk, resilience, and exit strategy requirements. Learn more.
Understand whether your current controls meet regulatory and audit expectations for critical third‑party software.
