Convert AIB Bank Statements to Xero

Upload your AIB PDF bank statement to BankStmtConverter, and the tool extracts transaction date, description, debit, credit, and balance into a CSV file formatted for Xero's bank statement import. Download the CSV and upload it through Xero's reconciliation screen to match transactions against your existing bank feed or manual entries. The converter handles both digital and scanned AIB statements.

How do I convert an AIB statement to Xero format?

1. Download your AIB statement as a PDF from AIB Internet Banking or the mobile app.
2. Go to BankStmtConverter and upload the PDF file.
3. The converter extracts all transactions, preserving date, description, debits, credits, and running balance.
4. Download the generated CSV file.
5. In Xero, navigate to Accounting > Bank accounts, select your AIB account, click the Manage Account dropdown, and choose Import a statement.
6. Upload the CSV and map columns if prompted — transaction date, description, debit (money out), credit (money in), and balance.
7. Xero loads the transactions into the reconciliation screen where you match them to invoices, bills, or create new transactions.

What transaction data gets extracted from AIB statements?

AIB current account and savings statements show transaction date (the date the payment processed), description (merchant name, transfer reference, or Direct Debit originator), debit (money leaving the account in euro), credit (money coming in), and balance after each transaction. The converter captures all five columns exactly as AIB prints them, preserving multi-line descriptions where AIB wraps long merchant names or reference codes. Value date is not typically shown separately on AIB personal statements; the transaction date is what appears and what Xero expects for reconciliation. Euro amounts are extracted with two decimal places, matching Irish currency formatting.

Importing the CSV into Xero for AIB reconciliation

Xero accepts CSV bank statement imports as an alternative to live feeds or manual entry, and many Irish AIB customers use this workflow when the automatic feed drops transactions or when processing historical statements. After uploading your converted CSV through Manage Account > Import a statement, Xero displays a column-mapping screen if it does not auto-detect the format. Map transaction date to the Date column, description to Description or Payee, debit to Money Out or Spent, credit to Money In or Received, and balance to Balance. The balance column helps Xero verify the import: if the closing balance in your CSV does not match the ledger, Xero flags a discrepancy so you can catch missing transactions before reconciling.

Once imported, transactions appear in the reconciliation screen as unreconciled lines. Xero matches them against invoices you have issued or bills you have entered. A €150.00 credit with description "Customer Payment - INV-1023" will suggest the corresponding sales invoice; you click OK to reconcile. Unmatched debits — a €45.30 debit for "Tesco Stores" — you categorise as an expense, assigning it to the correct account code and tax rate. For transactions Xero's bank feed has already imported, the CSV upload will create duplicates unless you delete the feed entries first or carefully date-filter your import to cover gaps only.

The workflow is particularly useful for year-end catch-up: download twelve months of AIB statements, convert all of them in a batch, and import the CSVs sequentially. Xero processes each file and stacks the transactions chronologically, letting you reconcile an entire year in one session. If your AIB account uses a positive balance convention (credits increase the balance, debits decrease it), the converter respects that, and Xero interprets the signs correctly during import.

Does it work with scanned or photographed AIB statements?

Yes. The converter uses OCR to read scanned AIB statements, including PDFs generated by scanning paper statements or photographing them with a phone. After extraction, the tool cross-checks the sum of debits and credits against the opening and closing balances printed on the statement. If the totals reconcile, the data is accurate. If you photograph a statement, ensure the entire page is visible, the lighting is even, and the text is not blurred — the OCR reads standard AIB statement fonts reliably under those conditions. Multi-page scanned statements are supported; the converter stitches transactions across all pages and produces one CSV.

Worked example: three AIB transactions in Xero CSV format

An AIB current account statement for 10–12 January 2025 shows an opening balance of €2,340.50. Three transactions occur: a €600.00 debit on 10 January for "Landlord Rent Transfer", a €1,250.00 credit on 11 January for "Salary - Employer Name", and a €37.80 debit on 12 January for "Vodafone Direct Debit". The closing balance is €2,952.70. The converted CSV contains:

In Xero, you import this CSV. The rent debit reconciles to a bill you entered for your landlord. The salary credit matches a journal entry or simply gets categorised to Drawings if you are a sole trader. The Vodafone debit you assign to Telephone & Internet expense with 23% VAT. After three clicks, all three lines are reconciled and your Xero bank account balance matches the AIB statement closing balance of €2,952.70.

Why use a converter instead of manual entry or AIB's export?

AIB Internet Banking does offer CSV export for some account types, but the feature is buried under Account Services and not available for all product lines. If you have a business account or a legacy current account without export, or if you need to process a paper statement from a branch, the converter fills the gap. It also standardises the format: AIB's native CSV sometimes uses different column headers or date formats across product types, whereas the converter output is consistent and maps cleanly to Xero every time.

Data privacy and file deletion

Your AIB statement PDF is processed on BankStmtConverter's server and deleted immediately after conversion. The file is not stored, not used for training any model, and not accessible to any third party. The conversion happens in seconds; once you download the CSV, no copy of your banking data remains on the server.

Converting other AIB statement formats

If you need your AIB transactions in a different structure, BankStmtConverter produces Excel spreadsheets for pivot analysis, generic CSV files for custom imports, QuickBooks .qbo files for Web Connect import, and OFX files for desktop accounting software. All formats extract the same transaction data; the difference is the file structure and which application consumes it. For a full list of Irish banks supported, see the Ireland banks page.