Knowledge

camt.054 for trade firms

camt.054 is the file in which your bank reports every incoming payment with its amount and reference, so your software can match it to the right invoice without retyping.

Updated October 2026

What is camt.054?

camt.054 is a bank message under the international ISO 20022 standard, the «Bank-to-Customer Debit/Credit Notification». The Swiss Payment Standards by SIX define how it looks in Switzerland. It reports credits and debits and breaks batch bookings down into single payments. Source: SIX (cash management implementation guidelines).

There is also camt.053, the electronic account statement. Some banks deliver the payment details there too. Source: PostFinance.

Why does my account show only one total?

Incoming QR payments often reach the account as a batch booking: the bank collects the payments and books only the total. Raiffeisen, for example, builds such batches up to three times a day. The single payments behind it are listed in the camt.054. Sources: Raiffeisen, ZKB.

Without camt.054 you see a credit of CHF 48'312.50 and have to work out which invoices are in it.

How does matching by QR reference work?

1. Every invoice gets its own QR reference when it is created.
2. Your client scans the QR code. The reference travels with the payment unchanged.
3. The bank reports the payment in the camt.054 with exactly that reference.
4. Your software finds the invoice with that reference, compares the amount and marks it paid.

This works with the QR reference on a QR-IBAN and with the Creditor Reference (starts with «RF») on a normal IBAN. Payments without a reference, such as a transfer with the invoice number in the message field, have to be matched by hand. Source: ZKB. Which reference goes on which invoice.

What happens with partial payments?

If the client pays less than the invoice amount, the payment still arrives with the full reference. The camt.054 shows the amount actually paid. The reference finds the invoice, the amount shows the gap: the invoice stays open for the rest.

Typical reasons on a building job are a cash discount (Skonto), a retention until acceptance (Rückbehalt) or a disputed change order. Find out why before you send a reminder. If the client pays the rest later with the same reference, it arrives as a second payment in a later camt.054.

That is why it pays to issue advance payments as separate invoices with their own reference, instead of letting one large invoice be paid in instalments. Then every payment hits exactly one invoice.

How do I get the camt.054 file?

Ask your bank: depending on the bank and the account, the file comes automatically or on request. PostFinance reports payments to a QR-IBAN with QR reference by camt.054. At UBS you ask for the switch to camt.054 first. Your software has to be able to read camt messages. Sources: PostFinance, UBS, ZKB.