MT940 to QIF Converter

MT940 to QIF Converter

QIF (Quicken Interchange Format) is a plain-text format that Quicken and a number of older personal finance programs use to import transactions. Each transaction is a short block of single-letter lines: D for the date, T for the amount, P for the payee, M for the memo, and a caret (^) to end the block. Many current programs prefer OFX, so people who receive SWIFT MT940 statements sometimes need QIF only for an older program.

This MT940 to QIF Converter reads each :61: line and its :86: narrative, then writes a QIF file with a !Type:Bank header. The payee comes from the counterparty subfield when the bank provides one, the amount is signed, and the bank reference is written as an N line. The file is built in your browser.

Key features

• Writes a !Type:Bank QIF file with one block per :61: transaction.
• Uses the ?32 and ?33 counterparty name as the payee and the ?20 to ?29 purpose as the memo when available.
• Writes the bank reference as an N line and signs amounts for money in and out.
• Previews the QIF text before download, and runs fully in the browser.

About the MT940 to QIF format

A QIF bank file starts with !Type:Bank. Each transaction then has a date line (D), an amount line (T), a payee line (P), and optional lines for the number (N), memo (M) and category (L), followed by ^. The converter writes the dates as MM/DD/YYYY, which is the form most Quicken US installs expect.

The amount is written with a full stop and a minus sign for money out. The converter takes the amount from the :61: line and the payee from ?32 or ?33 when they exist. Without subfields, the narrative text becomes the payee, which can be long.

How it works

The converter first reads the MT940 transactions into rows with a date, a signed amount, a payee, a memo and a reference. It then writes each row as a QIF block, in the order the statement lists them.

Date lines are rewritten from ISO dates to MM/DD/YYYY, so the output does not depend on the date order you chose.

Common use cases

• A household that keeps its records in Quicken receives a SWIFT statement from an overseas bank and needs it in Quicken without retyping.
• A small firm that uses a QIF-based desktop ledger imports a month of MT940 activity.
• A bookkeeper converts MT940 lines to QIF to test an import template before loading a full statement.

How to use this tool

1. Download the MT940 statement from your bank.
2. Open the MT940 to QIF converter and upload the file or paste the MT940 text.
3. Check the preview for the number of transactions and the first payee names.
4. Download the .qif file and import it into Quicken or another QIF-compatible program.

Example

:61:2605030503DN39,99NTRFNONREF//BK-1001
:86:?00TRANSFER?10000000?20INVOICE 4411?32CLOUD HOSTING LTD

!Type:Bank
D05/03/2026
T-39.99
PCLOUD HOSTING LTD
NBK-1001
MINVOICE 4411
^

Tips for best results

• Import into a new Quicken account first. QIF imports do not always detect duplicates, so a second import of the same statement may create copies.
• Check the date order after the import. The file is written month first, so a Quicken profile set to day-first may need its date setting changed before the import.
• Keep the .sta or .txt file. QIF has no bank reference field of its own beyond N, so the MT940 file remains the full record.

Common pitfalls

Importing into the wrong account type. The file header is !Type:Bank, so pick a bank or cash account when Quicken asks for the account type.

Expecting balances. QIF transaction files do not carry opening or closing balances, so the account balance in Quicken will be the sum of the imported transactions.

Expecting every subfield to appear. Only the counterparty and the reference are written as payee and number. The purpose text goes to the memo when a counterparty exists.

Relying on categories. The converter does not write L (category) lines because MT940 has no category field.

Frequently asked questions

For more background on data formats and conversion workflows, read our format guides.