Information about formats

Starting October 5, 2025, Albania, Moldova, Montenegro, and North Macedonia will join SEPA. This means that Euro payments to Albania, Moldova, Montenegro, and North Macedonia will no longer be processed as international payments, but instead as SEPA Euro payments. If you initiate a Euro transfer via the Rabo App, Rabo Online Banking, or Rabo Business Banking (Pro), we will automatically send the payment as a SEPA Euro payment. If you are a business customer using a payment file, make sure your accounting software creates the payment as a SEPA payment. If you have any questions, please contact your ERP/accounting software provider.

In October, it will become possible to process SEPA batches as Instant Payments. To process all payments in a batch as Instant Payments, two additional elements must be included:

<LclInstrm> (Local Instrument) and <Cd> (Code). Note: both fields must be filled at the batch level, and the <Cd> field must contain the value INST.

You can find further details about this change in the format description. You can use this functionality as soon as your accounting software provider makes it available.

Starting in October, Rabobank will offer the IBAN Name Check for batch payments via Rabo Business Banking (Pro). To verify your recipients’ details, upload your payment file in the IBAN Name Checker under the menu option "Payment Files". After the check, you will find a report in CSV format that you can download. This report shows whether the IBAN-name combination is correct.

If there are discrepancies, you must manually update them in your accounting software. After that, you can submit your payment file through your regular channel. Your file will not be processed automatically.

SWIFT is gradually replacing the MT format with MX, which is already familiar from SEPA and is now becoming the standard for International Payments and MultiBank.

Payment instructions use pain messages, and reconciliation is handled via camt messages.

The new MX files comply with the 2019 ISO 20022 standard. The clear structure of this file format increases security and speed, and will eventually enable global direct debits and instant payments.

Migration to the new MX format will require effort. MX messages follow strict rules and are relatively large, which may impact systems. Early migration to the latest MX formats is therefore strongly recommended!

Migration Impact

If your accounting solution already uses an automated connection with the bank, you don’t need to take any action for the migration to the new MX format. For this reason, Rabobank advises accounting software providers to connect to the Rabo Banking Link APIs. A large part of the market has already made this choice.

It is also possible to use the new MX files for payment instructions (pain) and reconciliation (camt) via online banking. To manually upload camt files into an accounting package, the 2019 version must be supported. Check with your provider whether they support the new versions.

The impact of the migration varies per situation. If you use custom-developed software, adjustments will be needed in the data model and bank connection. It’s also important to know whether you are still using MT messages or have already migrated to MX 2009. In both cases, action is required—see also “Phasing out MT and old MX formats.”

A natural moment to fully phase out MT messages is November 22, 2026. From that date onward, it will be mandatory to include structured address details for both the payer and the beneficiary in payment instructions (for more information, see below under “Structured Addresses at Rabobank”). As a result, the MT101 will no longer be usable. It is logical and advisable to also phase out the MT940 and MT942 formats at that time.

Currently, Rabobank has not yet decided how long the old MX files (based on the 2009 ISO standard) will be supported. This depends on how quickly the market transitions. Technically, it is possible to include structured addresses in the old MX files, but this is not straightforward. Therefore, Rabobank strongly recommends switching to APIs or the new MX formats before November 2026.

Below are Rabobank’s general guidelines for using address information in payment transactions. Please note: Payment processing involves many exceptions, often due to differing rules from involved countries and/or banks. An overview of country-specific requirements can be found on the page Payment Information by Country (Dutch only). Additionally, Rabobank aims to capture these exceptions within its channels, so you are alerted to special requirements as early as possible.

For Euro payments within the Eurozone, address details for both the payer and the beneficiary are optional. For international payments, at minimum the city and country of both the payer and the beneficiary must be provided. Address details of the payer are known to Rabobank via the IBAN and are automatically included.

Starting November 22, 2026, it will no longer be permitted to include address details solely in free-text format, i.e., unstructured in free-text fields. If an address is included—even when optional—it must at least contain the city name in the <TwnNm> element and the country code in <Ctry>. Other address details, such as street name and house number, can be included in structured fields.

If you also use free-text fields, the payment instruction will not be rejected, but those text fields will be ignored by the payment system.

Although this requirement only takes effect in November 2026, Rabobank strongly advises switching to structured address data now. Due to upcoming regulations, Rabobank is already rejecting unstructured address data in the new version of the payment format (pain.001.001.09).

This file format is based on the ISO 20022 standard of 2019. This type of MX message is now also suitable for all types of payment instructions:

This file format is based on the ISO 20022 standard of 2009. This type of MX message is suitable for all types of payment orders:

This file format has the same function as pain.001 and will be phased out over time.

This file format is based on the ISO 20022 standard of 2019. This file can only be used for direct debits within the Eurozone (SEPA Direct Debits).

This file format is based on the ISO 20022 standard of 2009.

A pain.002 file can be used to provide information about accepted and processed batches. This can only be done for SEPA payments via the RDC/SWIFT Fileact channel. In this application, the format is referred to as a 'positive pain'.

A pain.002 file can also be used to indicate which transactions in a file with payments or direct debits will be rejected for a technical or functional reason. In this scenario, the format is called a ‘negative pain’.

With this file, you know before the execution date which transactions will be rejected. Unlike the positive pain, the negative pain provides status information about almost all types of payments:

This file format is based on the ISO 20022 standard of 2019. The camt.052 contains information about the bookings made on the account during the current day (intraday).

In Rabo Business Banking (RBB) this format is available per 14th August 2025.

This file format is based on the ISO 20022 standard of 2009. The camt.052 contains information about the bookings made on the account during the current day (intraday).

Please see “Other Formats” for Transaction type codes.

This file format is based on the ISO 20022 standard of 2019. The camt.053 contains information about the bookings and balance on the account over closed book days (end of day or EOD).

In Rabo Business Banking (RBB) this format is available per 1st July 2025.

This file format is based on the ISO 20022 standard of 2009. The camt.053 contains information about the bookings and balance on the account over closed book days (end of day or EOD).

Please see “Other Formats” for Transaction type codes.

This format contains information about the bookings made on the account (both end of day and intra-day). A CSV file is a fairly simple format that is relatively easy to import into Excel. CSV is less suitable for use in combination with a professional accounting solution. We recommend choosing an automated link between the bank and the accounting package. Manual import of transactions is best done with camt.053 files.

This format contains an overview of transactions of credit cards which were issued from February 12, 2020.

This concerns CSV-files from other applications, which you can use to import data into the 'Payment address book' of Rabo Business Banking. We provide the following tips:

This format contains an overview of the costs regarding business payment transactions.

In this document, you will find a description of the transaction type codes that are reported in your download formats MT940 and MT942.

This format is based on the ISO 20022 standard en is suitable for SEPA Direct Debit and SEPA Credit Transfer.