MT940 is the SWIFT "customer statement" format. Many banks offer it as a download for accounting software. It is plain text, but it is not designed to be read by people – so opening it in Excel directly gives you one long column of codes.
The tags in an MT940 file
| Tag | Meaning |
|---|---|
:20: | Transaction reference number of the statement |
:25: | Account identification (often the IBAN, sometimes with currency) |
:28C: | Statement number / sequence number |
:60F: / :60M: | Opening balance (F = first, M = intermediate page) |
:61: | One statement line (a transaction) |
:86: | Information to the account owner: name, IBAN, reference of the other party |
:62F: / :62M: | Closing booked balance |
:64: | Closing available balance (optional) |
Reading a :61: line
:61:2610011001D1250,00NTRFINV1042//BANKREF123261001– value date, 1 October 2026 (YYMMDD)1001– entry (booking) date, MMDD (optional)D– debit (Ccredit,RD/RCreversals)1250,00– amount, always with a decimal commaNTRF– transaction type codeINV1042– customer reference; after//comes the bank's reference
Balances look like :60F:C260930EUR10000,00: credit/debit mark, date, currency, amount.
The :86: field differs by bank
Dutch banks often use slash codes such as /NAME/, /IBAN/, /REMI/; German banks use numbered sub-fields ?20–?33 for the purpose text and ?32/?33 for the name. A good converter splits these into separate columns.
Converting it
- Open CamtSheet and drop the .sta, .mt940 or .txt file. It is processed in your browser.
- Check the balance check: opening balance + all transactions should equal the closing balance. If it doesn't, the file is incomplete or a page is missing.
- Download CSV (free) – it opens in Excel with accents intact – or Excel with a separate balance sheet (Pro).
We cross-checked our parser against the independent open-source mt-940 library on eight real banks' sample files.
MT940 or camt.053?
Many banks now also offer ISO 20022 camt.053, which carries more detail in a structured way. If you can choose, see camt.052 vs 053 vs 054.
Sources
- SWIFT – Category 9 messages (MT940 Customer Statement)
- Open-source mt-940 Python parser used to cross-check our results
Related guides
Published 2026-10-02 by Karuna Labs. Our tools check file structure and checksums; always review outputs (and payment files in your bank's preview) before relying on them. This is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice.