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A budget app that imports CAMT.053 (ISO 20022) statements
Many European banks let you download account statements as an XML file in the ISO 20022 standard, usually called camt.053. Home Budget Analytics recognizes that file automatically, whichever bank produced it, and turns it into categorized spending. Because the currency is read from each entry in the file, it also suits accounts that hold more than one currency.
How to recognize a camt.053 file
CAMT.053 is the "bank to customer statement" message of the ISO 20022 standard. In practice you meet it as a file ending in .xml, offered in your online banking next to CSV or PDF.
Look in the export or download menu for a label containing "camt.053", "ISO 20022" or just "XML". Banks translate these menus, so the wording changes by language, and in German you may see something like "Kontoauszug (XML)". If you are unsure, open the file in a plain text editor: a camt.053 file usually mentions "camt.053" in the header lines near the top.
Banks everywhere may offer this format, but it is most common at European banks. There is no list of supported banks to check, because the format is recognized from the file.
Export and upload in four steps
The menus differ, but the sequence rarely does.
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1
Open the statement or export area
In your online banking, go to the account's transactions, statements or documents section.
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2
Choose the XML option
Select camt.053 or ISO 20022 XML, and set the period you want to cover.
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3
Save the file unchanged
Keep the .xml exactly as the bank produced it. Editing or re-saving it in another program can break its structure.
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4
Upload it
Add it to Home Budget Analytics (up to 20 MB). No bank selection and no column mapping are needed.
Currency is read from every entry
A camt.053 statement states the amount and currency for each entry, and Home Budget Analytics uses that rather than assuming one currency for the whole file. So a statement that mixes, say, euro and dollar movements imports each transaction in the currency it actually happened in.
This is the reverse of how a QIF file behaves, where the file has no currency information at all. If your account is anything other than a single domestic one, camt.053 is one of the more dependable formats to pick when your bank offers it.
How multi-currency accounts are handled
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What currency does each transaction keep? | Its original one, as read from the entry |
| How do I see totals? | Choose a home currency; amounts are converted at the historical exchange rate for each transaction's date |
| What if I change my home currency later? | All history is recalculated in the new currency |
| What is sent to the rate service? | Only a currency pair and a date |
| Where do rates come from? | The Frankfurter API, with rates cached |
After the import
Each new merchant gets a category from you once, and the rule is reused for every later transaction. Entries that match something already imported on date, merchant, amount and currency are skipped, so uploading overlapping periods is safe. If you hold several accounts, you can import them all, and transfers between your own accounts are detected and excluded from spending. By default the XML file is deleted after a successful import; you can keep originals in Settings.
Questions about camt.053 imports
Does my bank have to be on a list?
No. CAMT.053 is recognized from the file itself, for any bank. See the [formats overview](/bank-formats) for everything the app reads.
My bank offers XML but the import fails. What now?
Check that it is camt.053 specifically and not a different XML export. If it still fails, try the bank's CSV, which works for any bank once you map the columns.
Can one file contain several currencies?
Yes. The currency is read per entry, so each transaction keeps its own. They are shown together in your home currency using the rate for each date.
Is camt.053 better than CSV?
It is structured, so there is nothing to map, and it carries the currency per entry. CSV works for any bank too, but you match its columns on the first upload and can save that mapping.
Import a camt.053 statement
Upload the XML from your bank and see your spending by category, in your home currency. 14-day free trial, no card required.
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