Supported banking file formats and specifications

Developers tip: We strongly advise ERP or accounting software supplier to implement the XSD check to detect common issues with banking files. When viewing upload error statistics at Isabel we detect that 1/4 issues are directly related to badly validations that could be detected with an XSD check. We encourage you to use the opensource XSD files (created by iso20022.org) mentioned above.
The XSD also contains regular expressions that can be used when validating input fields.

Manually validating a file according to an XSD

Although we recommend that XSD validation is built into your ERP or accounting software you can also manually validate your banking file according to an XSD.

Please note that the information provided below is technical. In the steps below we will use XML Copy Editor (other advanced text editors can also be used).

1. Download and install XML Copy Editor. Once installed, start this program and open your file using XML Copy Editor (choose File > Open).
   Optional: In some cases when using banking file in XML all data might on 1 single line. This is done by your ERP or accounting software to reduce the file size, but is not user friendly to manually edit files. If you are using XML Copy Editor you can format your file by going to menu XML > Pretty-print.
2. Verify if your file is a well formed XML file by going to the menu XML > Check Well-formedness. The result of this validation will be displayed in the Information bar at the bottem.
   In case this validation fails your ERP or accounting software created a file that is not according to specifications. The most common mistakes here are illegal characters (only UTF-8 characters are allowed) or an invalid XML file (could be a wide range of possible issues). You will not be able to continue with the next validation step in case this validation fails.
3. Download the XSD corresponding to your used banking file and unzip it (you can view what type you must download in one of the first lines in your file).
4. In XML Copy Editor go to the menu XML > Associate > XML Schema. Select the XSD file you downloaded.
   
5. Validating your file with the corresponding XSD by going to the menu XML > Validate > DTD/XML Schema
6. In case this validation returns errors you can try to manually correct them. A malformed BIC, IBAN, text too long, illegal characters,... are common and easy to solve issues. In case they are not one of those we recommend contacting your software supplier and provide them the found issues.
    Although this validation is essential, it is not a guarantee that your file will accepted. Isabel 6 has a more in depth validation that is not covered by this XSD validation alone.

According to statistics this error occurs most when:

• A wrong formatted IBAN is used. A valid IBAN must begin with the 2 letter (country code), 2 check digits followed by 1 to 30 alphanumeric characters. Regular expression (*): [A-Z]{2,2}[0-9]{2,2}[a-zA-Z0-9]{1,30})
• A wrong BIC is used. A valid BIC must begin with 4 letters (institution code or bank code), 2 letters (country code) and 2 alphanumeric characters (location code). Optionally there are 3 alphanumeric characters at the end for the branch code. Total of 8 or 11 characters. Regular expression (*): [A-Z]{6,6}[A-Z2-9][A-NP-Z0-9]([A-Z0-9]{3,3}){0,1}
• An empty tag is used in the banking file. It is not allowed to have empty tags (like <tag></tag> or <tag/>)
• Illegal characters are used in the banking file. Only the characters as stated below can be used as valid input value. The file itself must have UTF-8 encoding.
  a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
  A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
  / - ? : ( ) . , ' +
  Isabel does allow the complete UTF-8 charset (so also letters with accents etc) but will be converted. For more information please read charset.pdf
• Another cause what made your file badly structured. The XSD validation covers a lot of various rules. In case the above reasons are verified you are advised to contact your accounting or ERP software supplier to verify where the issue is located. When contacting your software supplier also inform them about What is an XSD.
  

(*) A Regular expression can be used by your accounting or ERP software supplier to validate your input so you get real-time feedback when you've input a wrong value.

These older formats may no longer be accepted by your bank. Contact your bank for more information.