The Challenge
As European banks switch to the ISO 20022 standard, the previous MT940 format is gradually being phased out. A company had to migrate its existing bank reconciliation to the new XML-based formats CAMT.053 (bank statements) and CAMT.052 (intraday account transactions) without interrupting ongoing operations.
The upside: CAMT formats deliver much more structured data than MT940, in particular the end-to-end reference (EREF), which enables far more precise automatic matching.
Our Solution
We developed a modern CAMT bank import with intelligent invoice matching:
CAMT.053 Processing
Import of complete daily bank statements:
- XML parsing according to the ISO 20022 camt.053 schema
- Extraction of all booking entries with structured references
- Support for EREF (end-to-end reference), KREF (customer reference) and MREF (mandate reference)
- Automatic recognition of SEPA direct debits and credit transfers
CAMT.052 Real-Time Processing
Intraday account transactions for faster matching:
- Import several times a day for prompt payment recognition
- Provisional matching with automatic confirmation by CAMT.053
- Immediate notification of large incoming payments
Improved Matching
Making use of the richer CAMT data structure:
- EREF matching: direct assignment via the end-to-end reference (invoice number)
- SEPA mandate reference: automatic assignment of direct debits
- Structured remittance information: more precise parsing than with MT940
- Match rate of 95%+ compared to 87% with the MT940 process
Parallel Operation
Smooth migration without interruption:
- MT940 and CAMT can be processed in parallel
- Automatic format detection
- Gradual switchover per bank account
The Result
- 95% automatic matching rate (8 percentage points better than MT940)
- Intraday payment recognition instead of only on the following day
- Future-proof thanks to the ISO 20022 standard
- Seamless migration without a single day of downtime