There are three ways to get bank statements into Xero: a direct bank feed (when your bank supports it), Xero's built-in manual import for CSV and OFX files, or automated conversion for CSV, Excel and PDF files. This guide walks through all three so you can pick the right approach for your bank, your statement format, and your reconciliation workflow.

Direct bank feeds are the easiest path when available, sending transactions straight into Xero ready to reconcile. For banks Xero doesn't support, overseas accounts, credit card providers that only export PDFs, or payment processors like Stripe and PayPal, you'll need one of the two manual paths. The right method depends on how often you import, how clean your bank's export is, and how much manual reformatting you want to do.

Why bank statements sometimes need manual importing

Xero has direct feed agreements with many major banks, but the coverage isn't universal. Common situations where you'll need to import manually include:

  • Banks in countries or regions that don't support Xero feeds
  • Credit unions and smaller financial institutions
  • Business credit card accounts from providers like Amex or Diners Club
  • Payment processor settlement reports from Stripe, PayPal, or Square
  • Older accounts or closed accounts where feeds have been disconnected
  • Multi-currency accounts held with overseas banks

In all these cases, you typically get a statement file (CSV, Excel, PDF, or OFX) that needs to get into Xero for reconciliation.

Method 1: Xero's manual CSV import

Xero lets you upload bank statement files directly to a bank account.

How to do it

Go to Accounting > Bank Accounts in Xero, select the relevant bank account, click Import a Statement, and upload your file. Xero supports CSV and OFX formats natively.

CSV format requirements

For CSV files, Xero maps your columns in a wizard, so the header names do not matter. It needs a date, a description and one signed amount column.

Dates in a clear format such as 2026-03-15 (ISO) are read straight away. If every date could be read two ways (for example 05/03/2026), Xero asks you to choose dd/mm/yyyy or mm/dd/yyyy before it will preview or import. Pick the format your statement is really in. Unlike the invoice importer, the bank importer does not guess silently. See Xero CSV import errors for the full list.

Amounts in the single-amount format need to be positive for money in and negative for money out. Xero has no Debit and Credit pair. If your bank exports debits and credits in separate columns, Xero keeps only one of them and can book money out as money in. Combine them into one signed column before importing.

Before uploading, you can run your statement through our free Xero CSV validator. It checks the column structure, date format, and amount signs in your browser, so you catch the problems before Xero does.

Limitations

The CSV format Xero accepts is rigid. Most bank statement exports don't match it out of the box: they have extra columns, different date formats, or a different structure. You end up spending time in Excel reformatting data before every import.

PDF statements can't be imported into Xero at all. If your bank only provides statements in PDF, you need to convert them to CSV first (manually or using an OCR tool).

OFX files generally work more smoothly than CSV, but not every bank provides OFX exports.

Method 2: Converting your statement files

If your bank statement is in a format Xero doesn't accept (PDF, Excel, or a CSV with the wrong structure), you'll need to convert it first.

PDF to CSV conversion

Several tools can extract transaction data from PDF bank statements and produce a CSV that Xero can read. This involves uploading the PDF, checking that the extracted data looks right, adjusting columns to match Xero's requirements, and downloading the CSV.

The accuracy depends on the quality of the PDF and how the tool handles your bank's specific layout. Scanned statements (images rather than digital PDFs) are harder to convert accurately.

Excel reformatting

If your statement is in Excel, you'll need to strip out extra columns, combine debit and credit columns into one signed amount, and save as CSV. This is manual work, and it needs to happen every time you get a new statement.

The recurring cost of conversion

The core problem with conversion is that it's repetitive. Every week or month, the same reformatting task. The same risk of introducing errors. The same 15-30 minutes of work that feels like it should be automated.

Method 3: Automated conversion with EntryRocket

EntryRocket converts bank statements from CSV, Excel and PDF files into OFX, so you can upload them to Xero without any manual reformatting.

How it works

Email your bank statement file to your dedicated @entryrocket.com address. A custom reader, built specifically for your bank's export format, converts the statement into a clean OFX file with all the transaction data mapped correctly: dates, descriptions, amounts, and references. The OFX file is emailed back to you, ready to upload. You then import it into your Xero bank account through Xero's standard statement import. The transactions appear on the reconciliation screen, ready to match.

What this solves

You do not reformat the file yourself. Send your statement as it comes (CSV, Excel or PDF) and your reader converts it to a clean OFX file for Xero. Each bank layout needs its own reader.

OFX is a good format because Xero imports it directly without asking you to choose date formats or column mappings.

Who this works for

  • Businesses whose bank doesn't support Xero direct feeds
  • Finance teams dealing with overseas bank accounts or multi-currency transactions
  • Companies with credit card statements that need to flow into Xero for reconciliation
  • Anyone who spends recurring time reformatting bank statements before uploading them to Xero

A note on bank statements vs bank transactions

Bank statements and bank transactions are two different things in Xero. Bank statements are the lines you reconcile. Bank transactions (also called "spend money" and "receive money" entries) are individual transactions created from business software, and they are not statement lines. They show up in Find & Match instead. This guide is about bank statements. If you need to import spend or receive money transactions from business software, see our bank transactions page.

Choosing the right approach

If your bank supports Xero direct feeds, use them. They're the simplest option and work automatically.

For everything else, the choice is between manual conversion and automation. If you're importing one statement per quarter, manual conversion is manageable. If it's weekly or monthly, or involves multiple accounts, or the format requires significant reformatting, the time spent on manual work adds up quickly and automation gives that time back.