How to open camt.053 and MT940 bank statement files in Excel or CSV

What these files are

Banks deliver electronic statements in two families of formats. The camt messages belong to ISO 20022 and are XML files. The ISO 20022 message definitions for bank-to-customer cash management describe them like this:

• camt.053, the statement: the entries booked to an account, and its balances. It holds booked entries only, one file can cover more than one account, and an entry can carry the single transactions behind it, such as the payments of a batch booking.
• camt.052, the account report: entries and balance information too, but it can also report pending items.
• camt.054, the debit and credit notification: one or more debit or credit entries, and no balance information.

MT940 is the SWIFT customer statement and MT942 the interim transaction report. Both are plain text, and each field starts with a tag. The format descriptions of ING and Westpac list :20: (reference), :25: (account), :28C: (statement number), :60F: (opening balance), :61: (one statement line per transaction), :86: (information to the account owner about that line) and :62F: (closing balance). An MT942 has the same :61: and :86: lines and, in Handelsbanken's description, optional :90D: and :90C: fields with the number and sum of the debit and the credit entries. A made-up MT940 with one payment:

:20:STMT20261103
:25:0123456789
:28C:00042/001
:60F:C261102EUR1520,40
:61:2611031103D45,90NTRFEREF//1234567890
:86:/EREF/INV-118/NAME/EXAMPLE SUPPLIER/REMI/INVOICE 118
:62F:C261103EUR1474,50

The :61: line packs value date, entry date, debit mark (D), amount and transaction code into one string. Amounts use a decimal comma, as in the banks' own examples.

Why a double-click does not give you a table

• camt files are nested. A statement holds balances and entries, an entry can hold transaction details, and the amount and whether it is a credit or a debit are separate elements. Opened as it is, the file shows tags, not rows.
• MT940 has no columns. One transaction spreads over a :61: line and one or more :86: lines.
• Field 86 differs from bank to bank. ING structures it with code words such as /EREF/ and /REMI/; Westpac calls it the statement line narrative.
• Nothing tells you the numbers are complete. The opening and closing balances are in the file, but adding up the entries in between is up to you.

Option 1: a CSV or Excel download from your online banking

If you have access to the account and your online banking offers a CSV or Excel download, that is the shortest route: nothing needs converting. The columns and date formats are the bank's choice, so you may still have to rearrange them for your accounting import. It does not help with files a client or another bank sends you, and the totals are still yours to check.

Option 2: look at the file in a text editor

Both formats are text, so Notepad opens them: enough to see which account and period a file covers, or to read the opening and closing balance, but you cannot sort, filter or total anything.

Option 3: Excel's XML import (camt only)

1. In Excel, choose Data, Get Data, From File, From XML.
2. Pick the camt file and select Open.
3. In the Navigator, choose the part you want and select Transform Data to work on it in Power Query.

Microsoft's table of Power Query data sources lists the XML import for Excel 2016, Excel 2019 and Microsoft 365, also on the Mac. Microsoft says nested XML may need extra shaping, and camt is nested: you expand entries, details and batch transactions level by level and turn the credit or debit indicator into a sign yourself. It takes time, and nothing checks the balances. For MT940, a text import gives one tagged line per row, not columns.

Option 4: the import in your accounting program

If the statements go into accounting software, check whether it imports camt.053 or MT940 directly. One free example: the GnuCash manual lists SWIFT MT940, MT942 and CAMT 052 among the formats of its AqBanking import, which is there only when GnuCash was built with AqBanking support and AqBanking is installed, and GnuCash can export transactions to CSV. The manual's list does not include camt.053.

Option 5: Camtwright ($19.99)

Camtwright is a Windows app from Karelia Labs for accountants, bookkeepers and finance teams. It reads camt.053, camt.052 and camt.054 files, and MT940 and MT942 files, with or without SWIFT block headers and also inside ZIP files, into one table of transactions. It needs no other software and works offline. It costs $19.99 in the Microsoft Store: Get it from Microsoft Store.

1. Press Ctrl+O and open one or more statement or ZIP files. To see how it works first, choose Try a sample.
2. Look at the statements list. Each statement shows Balances agree, how far off it is, or that there is nothing to check against. The Issues tab lists every problem with its line or position in the file.
3. Choose and order the export columns, and save them as a named layout for your accounting import.
4. Export an Excel workbook (transactions, statements with balances and check result, summary, issues) or a CSV file with your separator, decimal mark and date format.

The check. For every statement, Camtwright adds the booked entries to the opening balance and compares the result with the closing balance in the file, to the cent, with exact decimal arithmetic. Where the bank states its own totals (the camt transaction summary, or :90D: and :90C: in an MT942), those are compared too.

Batches and field 86. A batch booking is split into its single payments when their amounts add up to the booked amount, and the batch total stays in its own column; otherwise the batch stays one row and the Issues list explains why. Field 86 is read in the German subfield style with SEPA keywords, in the slash-keyword style (/NAME/, /REMI/, /EREF/) or as free text, and the original text is kept in its own column. Anything without a column of its own goes to Other details instead of being dropped.

Rows carry the counterparty name, account and BIC, remittance text, end-to-end ID, mandate ID, creditor ID and bank transaction codes, among others. Possible duplicates are marked when the same statement or transaction was opened twice, and a gap between consecutive statements of an account is reported.

What to expect

• Tested with our own files. Camtwright was tested with statement files we wrote ourselves to the published formats, not with files from every bank. Banks write these formats in their own ways, so look at the check result before you rely on the numbers.
• Not every file can be checked. camt.054 notifications carry no balances, and an MT942 may have no totals. Such files are marked Nothing to check against, never as agreeing.
• Pending and information-only entries are shown but not counted in the check.
• Unreadable entries are listed with their line in the file, and that statement does not pass.
• Read only. Camtwright does not connect to your bank and does not change your files. Exports go to a folder you choose, and existing files are never overwritten.
• camt and MT only. It does not read PDF or CSV statements.
• Windows only: Windows 10 version 2004 or later, or Windows 11, on a 64-bit (x64) PC.

If you only have PDF statements, see how to convert a PDF bank statement to Excel, CSV or QBO.

The descriptions of the camt messages are from the ISO 20022 message definition report for bank-to-customer cash management (maintenance 2020-2021). The MT940 and MT942 fields are from the format descriptions of ING, Westpac and Handelsbanken; details differ from bank to bank. Excel's XML import is from Microsoft Support and Microsoft Learn, GnuCash from its manual. All checked on 15 November 2026. Camtwright's results are based on tests with statement files we wrote ourselves to the published formats.