diff --git a/include/plat/arm/common/plat_arm.h b/include/plat/arm/common/plat_arm.h
index 4751314f2..025a64fa2 100644
--- a/include/plat/arm/common/plat_arm.h
+++ b/include/plat/arm/common/plat_arm.h
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ void arm_setup_romlib(void);
 #define ARM_ROTPK_DEVEL_ECDSA_ID	3
 
 /* IO storage utility functions */
-void arm_io_setup(void);
+int arm_io_setup(void);
 
 /* Security utility functions */
 void arm_tzc400_setup(const arm_tzc_regions_info_t *tzc_regions);
diff --git a/plat/arm/board/fvp/fvp_io_storage.c b/plat/arm/board/fvp/fvp_io_storage.c
index 9c4c1d574..109d32150 100644
--- a/plat/arm/board/fvp/fvp_io_storage.c
+++ b/plat/arm/board/fvp/fvp_io_storage.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2014-2018, ARM Limited and Contributors. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2014-2020, ARM Limited and Contributors. All rights reserved.
  *
  * SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
  */
@@ -120,18 +120,22 @@ void plat_arm_io_setup(void)
 {
 	int io_result;
 
-	arm_io_setup();
+	io_result = arm_io_setup();
+	if (io_result < 0) {
+		panic();
+	}
 
 	/* Register the additional IO devices on this platform */
 	io_result = register_io_dev_sh(&sh_dev_con);
-	assert(io_result == 0);
+	if (io_result < 0) {
+		panic();
+	}
 
 	/* Open connections to devices and cache the handles */
 	io_result = io_dev_open(sh_dev_con, (uintptr_t)NULL, &sh_dev_handle);
-	assert(io_result == 0);
-
-	/* Ignore improbable errors in release builds */
-	(void)io_result;
+	if (io_result < 0) {
+		panic();
+	}
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/plat/arm/common/arm_fconf_io_storage.c b/plat/arm/common/arm_fconf_io_storage.c
index 6bbdb3cf2..341622a0b 100644
--- a/plat/arm/common/arm_fconf_io_storage.c
+++ b/plat/arm/common/arm_fconf_io_storage.c
@@ -63,32 +63,41 @@ int open_memmap(const uintptr_t spec)
 	return result;
 }
 
-void arm_io_setup(void)
+int arm_io_setup(void)
 {
 	int io_result;
 
 	io_result = register_io_dev_fip(&fip_dev_con);
-	assert(io_result == 0);
+	if (io_result < 0) {
+		return io_result;
+	}
 
 	io_result = register_io_dev_memmap(&memmap_dev_con);
-	assert(io_result == 0);
+	if (io_result < 0) {
+		return io_result;
+	}
 
 	/* Open connections to devices and cache the handles */
 	io_result = io_dev_open(fip_dev_con, (uintptr_t)NULL,
 				&fip_dev_handle);
-	assert(io_result == 0);
+	if (io_result < 0) {
+		return io_result;
+	}
 
 	io_result = io_dev_open(memmap_dev_con, (uintptr_t)NULL,
 				&memmap_dev_handle);
-	assert(io_result == 0);
 
-	/* Ignore improbable errors in release builds */
-	(void)io_result;
+	return io_result;
 }
 
 void plat_arm_io_setup(void)
 {
-	arm_io_setup();
+	int err;
+
+	err = arm_io_setup();
+	if (err < 0) {
+		panic();
+	}
 }
 
 int plat_arm_get_alt_image_source(
diff --git a/plat/arm/common/arm_io_storage.c b/plat/arm/common/arm_io_storage.c
index 60d19b24e..f5d8a414d 100644
--- a/plat/arm/common/arm_io_storage.c
+++ b/plat/arm/common/arm_io_storage.c
@@ -292,32 +292,41 @@ static int open_memmap(const uintptr_t spec)
 }
 
 
-void arm_io_setup(void)
+int arm_io_setup(void)
 {
 	int io_result;
 
 	io_result = register_io_dev_fip(&fip_dev_con);
-	assert(io_result == 0);
+	if (io_result < 0) {
+		return io_result;
+	}
 
 	io_result = register_io_dev_memmap(&memmap_dev_con);
-	assert(io_result == 0);
+	if (io_result < 0) {
+		return io_result;
+	}
 
 	/* Open connections to devices and cache the handles */
 	io_result = io_dev_open(fip_dev_con, (uintptr_t)NULL,
 				&fip_dev_handle);
-	assert(io_result == 0);
+	if (io_result < 0) {
+		return io_result;
+	}
 
 	io_result = io_dev_open(memmap_dev_con, (uintptr_t)NULL,
 				&memmap_dev_handle);
-	assert(io_result == 0);
 
-	/* Ignore improbable errors in release builds */
-	(void)io_result;
+	return io_result;
 }
 
 void plat_arm_io_setup(void)
 {
-	arm_io_setup();
+	int err;
+
+	err = arm_io_setup();
+	if (err < 0) {
+		panic();
+	}
 }
 
 int plat_arm_get_alt_image_source(