MT940 is a tagged bank-statement format used by some ERP and treasury import workflows. If your bank offers the required electronic statement directly, use that file first. A PDF-derived MT940 reconstructs data from the statement; it does not recreate every bank reference or bank-specific reporting convention.
Confirm your destination's requirements
Ask the person responsible for your bank-statement importer which MT940 variant, account identifier, transaction codes, reference rules, and narrative layout it expects. Also confirm whether it accepts a block-4 body or requires a fuller message envelope.
SAP documents MT940 among the formats supported by its bank-statement import workflow. That describes a supported format, not certification of a particular generated file. Your configured importer still determines acceptance and posting behavior.
Convert and download the statement
- Open the PDF to MT940 tool.
- Upload one account's unlocked PDF, up to 25 MB, and choose Convert My Statement.
- Download Excel first and inspect the account number, currency, period, opening balance, closing balance, and transaction rows.
- Open More formats and select MT940 under Bank standards.
- Save the .sta download with its PDF and review workbook for the import test.
The .sta extension is the current download filename for this MT940 output. Changing the filename to .txt or .mt940 only changes its name; it does not adapt the content to another specification. Editing the Excel copy also does not change a later MT940 download.
Read the generated fields
| Tag | Current output | Review point |
|---|---|---|
| :20: | STATEMENT | Fixed reference, not a bank-issued identifier |
| :25: | Extracted account identifier | Check against the destination account |
| :28C: | 00001/00001 | Fixed sequence, not the bank's statement number |
| :60F: | Opening balance, currency, and period start | Confirm amount, sign, and date |
| :61: | Transaction date, C or D, amount, NMSC, NONREF | Generic code and reference |
| :86: | Description, truncated to 390 characters | Check narrative length requirements |
| :62F: | Closing balance, currency, and period end | Compare with the original PDF |
The exporter wraps these tags in a block-4 body, uses CRLF line endings, and writes two-decimal amounts with a comma. It uses the extracted transaction date for both date positions in :61:. Separate booking and value dates are not recovered by this export.
Recognise missing information and limits
Missing balances become zero, missing currency becomes USD, and a missing account number becomes a placeholder. Missing or unparseable dates can become 000101. Verify the source fields before import so these defaults are not mistaken for statement facts.
The description is truncated but not wrapped into 65-character continuation lines. A strict importer can reject long narratives. Transaction codes are generic NMSC, references are NONREF, and the statement sequence is fixed. A workflow that needs bank-specific codes, unique sequence numbers, full routing blocks, or structured narratives needs an adaptation step or a bank-issued file.
Test before posting
Use an import preview or a test environment first. Check the target account and currency, transaction count, debit and credit signs, and whether the importer reports duplicate references or unsupported tags. Compare totals with the PDF and inspect unmatched transactions before applying posting rules.
Keep the exact error and the import specification if the test fails. Do not replace missing metadata with guesses to make a file pass. For a destination that requires XML, compare the CAMT.053 guide; for manual review, use Excel.