MT940 Format Overview 21

It is fair to say that most SEPA implementations are focusing on SEPA compliance, and rightly so! This focus will ensure that corporate payments and direct debit collections can continue to happen uninterrupted after the SEPA deadline. The spotlight for now is very much on the corporate to bank space. Less attention is being given the other way, i.e. bank to corporate. As a bare minimum, I would recommend you to have an understanding of the SEPA Rejection Reason Codes, R-Transactions or R-Messages.

The other significant area in the bank to corporate space is bank statement reporting. With SEPA you may be asked questions about the content of your bank statement file. I am going to assume that the vast majority of corporates are using the MT940 format for end of day bank statement reporting.

The intention of this post if to provide you with an overview of the MT940 file format. It should help you to identify in which field a particular value has or has not been sent!


What is an MT940?

An MT940 is a standard structured SWIFT Customer Statement message. In short, it is an electronic bank account statement which has been developed by SWIFT. It is a end of day statement file which details all entries booked to an account.

MT940 Format Details:

The MT940 file format consists of the following sections and tags:

Tag 20 – Transaction Reference Number
  • Mandatory – 16x
  • Used by the Sender to unambiguously identify the message
Tag 21 – Related Reference
  • Optional – 16x
  • If the MT 940 is sent in response to an MT 920 Request Message, this field must contain the field 20 Transaction Reference Number of the request message
Tag 25 – Account Identification
  • Mandatory – 35x
  • This field identifies the account for which the statement is sent
Tag 28C – Statement Number/Sequence Number
  • Mandatory – 5n[/5n]
  • Sequential number of the statement, optionally followed by the sequence number of the message within that statement when more than one message is sent for one statement
    • For example – the first message within the statement would be represented as 28C:111/1, the second message within the same file would be 28C:111/2
Tag 60a – Opening Balance
  • Mandatory – 1!a6!n3!a15d – D/C | Date | Currency | Amount
  • Indicating for the (intermediate) opening balance, whether it is a debit or credit balance, the date, the currency and the amount of the balance
  • There are 2 options:
    • Option F – :60F:
      • Debit/Credit | Last Statement Date (YYMMDD)  | Currency (ISO) | Amount
    • Option M – :60M:
      • Debit/Credit | Current Statement Date (YYMMDD)  | Currency (ISO) | Amount

 

Tag 61 – Statement Line
  • Optional – 6!n[4!n]2a[1!a]15d1!a3!c16x[//16x]
    [34x]

    • 6!n Value Date (YYMMDD)
    • [4!n] Entry Date (MMDD)
    • 2a Debit/Credit Mark
    • [1!a] Funds Code (3rd character of the currency code, if needed)
    • 15d Amount
    • 1!a3!c Transaction Type Identification Code
    • 16x Customer Reference
    • [//16x] Bank Reference
    • [34x] Supplementary Details (this will be on a new/separate line)
Tag 86 – Information to Account Owner
  • Optional – 6x65x
  • Additional information about the transaction detailed in the preceding statement line and which is to be passed on to the account owner

 

Tag 62a – Closing Balance (Booked Funds)
  • Mandatory – 1!a6!n3!a15d – D/C | Date | Currency | Amount
  • Indicating for the (intermediate) closing balance, whether it is a debit or credit balance, the date, the currency and the amount of the balance
  • There are 2 options:
    • Option F – :60F:
      • Debit/Credit | Last Statement Date (YYMMDD)  | Currency (ISO) | Amount
    • Option M – :60M:
      • Debit/Credit | Current Statement Date (YYMMDD)  | Currency (ISO) | Amount
Tag 64 – Closing Available Balance (Available Funds)
  • Optional – 1!a6!n3!a15d – D/C | Date | Currency | Amount
  • Indicates the funds which are available to the account owner (if credit balance) or the balance which is subject to interest charges (if debit balance).
  • Debit Balance /Credit Balance |  Date (YYMMDD)  | Currency (ISO) | Amount

 

Tag 65 – Forward Available Balance
  • Optional – 1!a6!n3!a15d – – D/C | Date | Currency | Amount
  • Indicates the funds which are available to the account owner (if a credit or debit balance) for the specified forward value date
  • Debit Balance /Credit Balance |  Date (YYMMDD)  | Currency (ISO) | Amount

 

Tag 86 – Information to Account Owner
  • Optional – 6x65x
  • Additional information about the statement as a whole
Thanks for stopping by – Take a look around!

I’ve deliberately missed out the SWIFT header and footer sections, since here we’re mostly interested in the MT940 format and data contents.

Having quick access to this has certainly helped me recently, and I hope it helps you too!

 

21 thoughts on “MT940 Format Overview

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  11. Reply a Apr 9,2018 7:46 am

    Tag 60 details are posted against tag 62. kindly update

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  13. Reply Gerard Nov 10,2018 2:23 pm

    Hi

    Can Entry Date in Tag 61 be different in one and the same MT940 or is it expected that entry date in Tag 61 equals the date in Tag 60F and hence the entry date is the same throughout the whole MT940?

    Thanks

    Gerard

  14. Reply Gerardo Arias Apr 16,2019 10:02 am

    Hello
    Question

    Is there a version of MT940 file in XML format ?

    regards

    Gerardo Arias

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  16. Reply Rohit Bhageria Jul 4,2019 5:49 pm

    Hi,

    Can be get remitter’s account number details in MT940 statement

  17. Reply Anthony Sep 9,2019 12:25 pm

    We are implementing the reporting of “Return Items” in the SWIFT MT940.
    Which have negative amounts from my source file. The ISO_7775 amount fields are not signed. How can we verify that it’s ok to modify the standard or should we not report return items via the MT940?

  18. Reply Rob Smith Mar 15,2021 11:00 pm

    Client want to enter some information regarding individual transaction in a batch and have it come back on the MT940. What field in the NACHA file can they enter a transaction reference number and have it come back in MT940?

  19. Reply Van le Thi Hong May 11,2021 7:22 am

    How can i open XML file from bank with notepad which following the format of MT940

  20. Reply HH Oct 5,2021 3:26 pm

    Hi,
    This a converter to transform your MT940 to Excel file :

    https://www.mt940converter.com

  21. Reply SANJEEV AGRAWAL Dec 9,2021 8:12 am

    Can any one explain, what is ” -TX ” under column BTC.

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