Import a bank statement into a Malaysian Xero organisation

A Xero organisation in Malaysia can take bank lines from a file, and Xero Central has an article on exactly what that file holds. This guide sets out what the article asks of a CSV, what Central states about PDF statements, and the ExtractPro settings that write a CSV from a statement.

What Xero Central says about PDF

Central also has an article for PDF statements, and it states “PDF bank statement imports are currently only available in Xero organizations in Canada and the United States.” This guide works from the CSV article, which lists what the file must hold. Source: Import a PDF bank statement – Xero Central, central.xero.com/s/article/Import-a-PDF-bank-statement, accessed 14 October 2026.

What Xero asks of the CSV file

• Fields: “You only need the Date and Amount fields to create bank statement lines, but reconciling your transactions is easier if you include more detail.”
• Signs: “Show income as positive amounts and expenses as negative amounts using a negative sign in front of the amount or with brackets, for example -30.00 or (30.00). Don't use commas to show decimal places.”
• Dates: the example Xero gives is “DD/MM/YYYY (eg 15/01/2023)”.
• Balances: the article names “Columns containing opening and closing balances, as Xero calculates the bank balance from the transactions”, and the settings below leave the balance column out.
• Size: “You can’t import a CSV file with more than 100,000 rows.”
• Matching: “The Transaction Date and Transaction Amount fields must be assigned to columns from your CSV file.”

Source: Import a bank statement in CSV format – Xero Central, central.xero.com/s/article/Import-a-CSV-bank-statement, accessed 14 October 2026.

Choosing the ExtractPro settings

With a converted statement open, work down the panel in this order:

1. 1In the Output format section, choose See more formats or customise, then Custom.
2. 2Set File type to CSV.
3. 3Set Date format to DD/MM/YYYY (15/01/2026), the order of Xero’s own example.
4. 4Under Amounts choose Single column (signed): a payment out carries a minus sign, a receipt carries none, and both sit in one column.
5. 5Under Include balance leave Add Balance column unticked, and leave Categories unticked as well, so each line is a date, a description and an amount.
6. 6For CSV separator choose Comma (,) and for Number format choose Decimal point, no separator (1234.56), so that no amount carries a comma or a space.
7. 7Choose Apply format, then download the CSV.

Loading the file into Xero

Central lists the import as a short run of steps. It opens with “In the Accounting menu, select Bank accounts.”, goes to the account’s menu for “select Import a Statement.” and then picks the file: “In File to upload, drag and drop a file or click Select file to choose a file from your computer, then click Next.” Two prompts can follow, “If prompted, assign the columns in your import file to the matching bank statement fields in Xero, then click Next.” and “If prompted, select the date format used in your bank statement, then click Next.” At the end comes “Click Complete import.” If the date prompt shows up, DD/MM/YYYY is the order these settings write. Central also states “You need the administrator or standard + bank accounts user role to import a bank statement into Xero.” Source: Import a bank statement in CSV format – Xero Central, central.xero.com/s/article/Import-a-CSV-bank-statement, accessed 14 October 2026.

Matching the columns

Xero’s article says the Transaction Date and Transaction Amount fields have to be assigned to columns of the file. In the file these settings write, with the default column order those are the first and the third columns, with the description between them: the extra detail that Xero says makes reconciling easier.

Before the upload, set the statement beside the CSV. The transactions should match one for one and their sum should equal the movement over the period; the same comparison is worth repeating once the lines are in Xero.

Frequently asked questions

The questions that come up most: