What is an MT940 File? SWIFT Format & Structure
MT940 (Message Type 940) is the international SWIFT messaging standard for electronic bank statements. Used by corporate treasury desks and ERPs worldwide, it encodes account balances and transaction movements using standardized colon-delimited tags.
Anatomy of an MT940 message: annotated sample
An MT940 file consists of plain ASCII text using standard SWIFT tags enclosed in colons. Below is an authentic, structured MT940 end-of-day bank statement message:
:20:STMT20260915001
:25:DE89370400440532013000
:28C:142/1
:60F:C260914EUR124500,50
:61:2609150915CR4500,00NTRFNONREF//INV948102
:86:INCOMING WIRE PAYMENT/EREF/INV948102/REMT/ACME GLOBAL TRADING GMBH
:61:2609150915DR1250,25NTRFNONREF//TAX2026
:86:CORPORATE TAX ADVANCE/REMT/BUNDESKASSE
:62F:C260915EUR127750,25
-}Each tag performs an explicit role in corporate accounting reconciliation:
| Field Tag | SWIFT Field Name | Description & Syntax |
|---|---|---|
| :20: | Transaction Reference | Sender’s unique tracking identifier (up to 16 characters). |
| :25: | Account Identification | IBAN or domestic bank account identifier (up to 35 characters). |
| :28C: | Statement / Sequence Number | Statement cycle number and page sequence (e.g. 142/1). |
| :60F: | Opening Balance | Debit/Credit (D/C), Date (YYMMDD), Currency (ISO 4217), Amount. |
| :61: | Statement Line (Movement) | Value date, booking date, Debit/Credit mark, Amount, Transaction type, Bank reference. |
| :86: | Information to Account Owner | Supplementary narrative, counterparty details, and remittance references. |
| :62F: | Closing Balance | Verified closing booked balance for the statement period. |
MT940 vs MT942 vs ISO 20022 CAMT
In modern financial systems, you will encounter three related statement standards:
The definitive daily statement. Carries booked opening and closing balances and finalized transactions. Used for formal reconciliation and general ledger posting.
Interim activity report sent several times a day. Carries transactions that cleared since the last transmission. Balances are provisional and omit closing reconciliation tags.
The XML-based successor to MT940. Carries richer remittance data without SWIFT’s 65-character line length limits. Currently coexisting with MT940 during global transition.
If you need to generate compliant MT940 messages for your ERP from PDF statements or spreadsheet exports, use our MT940 statement converter.
Frequently asked questions
What does MT940 stand for?
MT940 stands for Message Type 940. It is a standardized SWIFT message specification used by financial institutions globally to transmit electronic end-of-day bank statement data to corporate clients, treasury workstations, and ERP systems.
What is the difference between MT940 and MT942?
MT940 is an end-of-day or end-of-period statement containing final, cleared transactions and verified opening/closing booked balances. MT942 is an interim intraday transaction report issued throughout the business day to inform corporate treasurers of real-time cash flow activity.
Is MT940 being replaced by ISO 20022 CAMT.053?
Yes. The global banking network (SWIFT) is actively migrating from legacy MT messages to ISO 20022 XML standards. The direct XML replacement for MT940 is CAMT.053 (Bank-to-Customer Statement). However, because thousands of corporate ERPs (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite) still rely on MT940 parsers, MT940 remains widely utilized.
Can I view or open an MT940 file in Microsoft Excel?
Excel opens MT940 files as a single column of unparsed SWIFT text codes (:20:, :25:, :61:). To analyze MT940 transactions as a multi-column table with headers for Date, Description, and Amount, you must convert the file to CSV or XLSX.
Why do ERP systems frequently fail when importing MT940 files?
Import failures are usually caused by non-compliant line wrap (SWIFT rules restrict field :86: to 65 characters per line), non-standard bank sub-delimiters (e.g. custom tilde ~ or slash / separators), or mathematical discrepancies between Field :60F (Opening Balance), Field :61 (Movements), and Field :62F (Closing Balance).
How can I convert a PDF or spreadsheet statement into an MT940 file?
Our converter accepts bank statement PDFs, CSVs, or Excel files, parses the movements semantically, and constructs an official SWIFT MT940 message with valid headers, account tags, value dates, and balance checkpoints.