Statements
Why does my MT940 opening balance plus entries not equal the closing balance?
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An MT940 always adds up within one message: the opening balance in 60a, plus credits, minus debits in the 61 lines, equals the closing balance in 62a. When your reconciliation says otherwise, the cause is almost always on the reading side: a page of a multi-message statement is missing, an intermediate balance (60M or 62M) was taken as the day’s balance, a reversal (RC or RD) was booked with the wrong sign, or entries were loaded twice.
What it means
Field 60a is the opening balance and 62a the closing booked balance, each with a D/C mark, date, currency and amount (1!a6!n3!a15d). Every field 61 statement line in between is one booked entry. For each message, opening plus credits minus debits must equal closing. Fields 64 (closing available) and 65 (forward available) are separate balances and are not part of this sum.
A statement that is too long for one message is split. Field 28C carries the statement number and the page: 235/1, 235/2 and so on, starting at 1 and increasing by one. The first page opens with 60F (first opening balance) and every later page with 60M (intermediate). Every page except the last closes with 62M; only the last page closes with 62F. Each page’s 60a must repeat the previous page’s 62a exactly, and the 60F of the next statement must repeat the 62F of this one.
The D/C mark in field 61 has four values, not two. C is a credit and D a debit. RC is a reversal of a credit, which is booked as a debit, and RD is a reversal of a debit, booked as a credit. A parser that treats any mark starting with R as a credit, or reads only the first character, will be off by twice the reversed amount.
The balances in 60a and 62a are booked balances on the statement date. Each 61 line also carries a value date, which can be earlier (back value) or later (forward value) than the booking. If you reconcile against a value-dated position, or cut your ledger by value date while the bank cuts by booking date, the two will not agree even though the statement is correct.
In camt.053 the same rules apply with different labels: the opening balance has type OPBD and the closing balance CLBD, and on intermediate pages these carry the sub-type INTM, like 60M and 62M. A statement page is identified by Stmt/StmtPgntn/PgNb and LastPgInd. See camt.053 vs MT940.
Common causes
- A page is missing: 28C jumps from
/1to/3, or the last page (the one with 62F) has not arrived yet. Opening of page 1 plus the entries you have will not reach the 62F. - An intermediate balance (60M or 62M) was stored as the day’s opening or closing balance.
- A reversal was booked with the wrong sign: RC is a debit, RD is a credit.
- A statement or page was received or imported twice (same field 20 and 28C), so its entries are counted twice.
- The opening balance does not equal yesterday’s closing balance because a statement in between is missing (statement number in 28C skipped).
- Two accounts or currencies were mixed: field 25 differs, or a currency code differs between the balances.
- Reconciliation against 64 (available) or 65 (forward available) instead of 62F (booked), or a ledger cut by value date instead of booking date.
- Amount parsing errors: the decimal comma read as a thousands separator, or the optional funds code letter read as part of the amount.
How to fix it
- Group the messages by account (field 25) and statement number (first part of 28C). Sort each group by page number.
- Check the pages are complete: numbers 1, 2, 3 without gaps, page 1 with 60F, the last page with 62F, and every page in between with 60M and 62M.
- Check each page on its own: 60a plus credits (C and RD) minus debits (D and RC) equals 62a. A page that does not add up is either damaged or parsed wrongly.
- Check the links: each 60M equals the previous page’s 62M, and the first 60F equals the 62F of the previous statement. A break shows exactly where a page or statement is missing.
- Look for duplicates: the same 20 and 28C loaded twice, or the same 61 reference (subfields 7 and 8) appearing twice.
- If the statement adds up but your ledger does not, compare booking dates with value dates and look for entries the bank booked that you have not (charges, interest, returns), then for entries you booked that the bank has not yet.
- Request a missing page or statement from the account servicer, quoting field 25 and the 28C statement and page number.
Worked example: statement 235 for 22 October 2026, split over two pages. Page 2 is the example message below. The last rows show what goes wrong when it is read incorrectly.
| Step | Field | Credit | Debit | Running balance (GBP) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Page 1 opening | 60F C | 150,000.00 | ||
| Incoming customer payment | 61 C S103 | 25,000.00 | 175,000.00 | |
| Outgoing transfer | 61 D NTRF | 40,000.00 | 135,000.00 | |
| Page 1 closing | 62M C | 135,000.00 | ||
| Page 2 opening (must equal 62M) | 60M C | 135,000.00 | ||
| Charge booked in error, reversed | 61 RD NCHG | 1,200.00 | 136,200.00 | |
| Outgoing customer payment | 61 D S103 | 8,750.50 | 127,449.50 | |
| Statement closing | 62F C | 127,449.50 | ||
| Error: page 2 missing, 60F + page 1 entries compared with 62F | 135,000.00 vs 127,449.50: short by the page 2 net of 7,550.50 | |||
| Error: RD booked as a debit | 125,049.50 vs 127,449.50: off by 2,400.00, twice the reversal | |||
| Error: page 1 loaded twice | 112,449.50 vs 127,449.50: off by 15,000.00, the page 1 net counted twice |
Example
Page 2 of statement 235 sent by BANKGB2LXXX to ZagTrader Test Bank for its GBP account 12345678 on 22 October 2026. It opens with an intermediate balance (60M) carried from page 1 and closes with the final balance (62F).
{1:F01BANKGB2LAXXX0000000000}{2:I940ZAGTAEADXXXXN}{4:
:20:ST261022GBP0235
:25:12345678
:28C:235/2
:60M:C261022GBP135000,00
:61:261022RD1200,00NCHGNONREF//BKGB2610220101
REVERSAL OF CHARGE 21 OCT
:86:/REMI/CHARGE BOOKED IN ERROR ON 21 OCT REVERSED
:61:261022D8750,50S103ZT2610220044//BKGB2610220115
:86:/BENM/NORTH SEA INSTRUMENTS LTD
:62F:C261022GBP127449,50
:64:C261022GBP127449,50
-}Open this example in the parser28C:235/2 is page 2 of statement 235. Page 1 closed with 62M:C261022GBP135000,00, which is why this page opens with the same amount in 60M.
RD reverses a debit, so the 1,200.00 is added: 135,000.00 + 1,200.00 - 8,750.50 = 127,449.50, the 62F.
The first 61 line has NONREF as the account owner’s reference, so the bank puts the best alternative information in subfield 9 on the next line.
Account, references and BICs are made up.
Questions
- What do 60M and 62M mean in an MT940?
- They are intermediate balances. When one statement is split over several messages, every page except the first opens with 60M and every page except the last closes with 62M. Only 60F on the first page and 62F on the last page are the statement’s real opening and closing balances.
- What is the difference between RC and RD in field 61?
RCis a reversal of a credit: money is taken back, so it is a debit entry.RDis a reversal of a debit: money is given back, so it is a credit entry.- Why does my opening balance not match yesterday’s closing balance?
- A statement in between is usually missing: check that the statement number in 28C follows on from the previous one. Also check you compared with the 62F of the previous statement, not a 62M.
- What is the difference between 62F and 64?
- 62F is the closing booked balance and is the one that opening plus entries must equal. 64 is the closing available balance: the funds the account owner can actually use, which can differ from the booked balance, for example when entries are not yet value dated.
- Does an MT940 show pending or future-dated items?
- An MT940 reports entries booked to the account. Entries during the day can be reported in an MT942 interim transaction report, and field 65 (forward available balance) shows the balance on later value dates when booked entries carry future value dates.