You can import your bank statements into Xentral and subsequently post the imported transactions to the relevant invoices and credit notes.
The import of the bank statements can be carried out automatically or manually and you can decide in the settings how many days of transactions you want to import.
In order to import your bank statements into Xentral, you have to create the relevant business accounts. Each business account created may only be connected to one bank account and vice versa. Otherwise, wrong double bookings may occur.
Note
It is not possible to limit the import to specific transaction data, all available data for the selected date range is imported.
There are two main types of business accounts in Xentral for the import of bank statements:
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Live Banking Connection (recommended) - using finAPI
Bank statements are retrieved via the BaFin-licensed third-party provider finAPI using the XS2A or FinTS standard. In order to use finAPI you do not need to enter into a separate contract. The use of finAPI for retrieval of your bank statements is part of your Xentral offering.
Note
You can only use finAPI if your Xentral instance is hosted in the Cloud.
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Account type: Bank via HBCI/FinTS (HBCI4PHP)
More and more banks switch from the FinTS/HBCI standard to the XS2A standard which is why we recommend the use of finAPI. finAPI supports both standards.
The following sections describe how you
convert an existing HBCI business account to a Live Banking Connection business account. Use this option if you have retrieved your bank statements using an HBCI/FinTS business account and now want to switch it to finAPI while retaining your settings (recommended).
create a a Live Banking Connection business account . Use this option if you have not yet set up a business account in Xentral for retrieval of your bank statements and want to retrieve your bank statements in Xentral.
create a HBCI/FinTS business account - Use this option to set up an HBCI/FinTS business account.
If you already have a HBCI account set up, you can convert it to a Live Banking Connection account.
Note
Once you switched the account type to Live Banking Connection you cannot change it back anymore.
To convert your existing HBCI account into a Live Banking Connection account:
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Go to App Center > Accounting > Business accounts.
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Select the HBCI account you want to convert and click
to open it in edit mode. The following message is displayed on top of the form:
The HBCI protocol as a way to connect with banks will be discontinued. We recommend switching to PSD2. It will allow you to keep your historical data and configuration. The connection is realized via finAPI. finAPI is BaFin licensed, so your data is secure. For further information, please refer to the Terms and Conditions.
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Click Switch to PSD2 to start the authorization. You are automatically redirected to the finAPI credentials form.
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In the finAPI credentials form enter your online banking credentials and follow the instructions. You have to authorize the connection with a TAN. Once the connection is established, return to Xentral .
Note
During the registration process you can select to save your PIN or your password, depending on the bank. If you do not select to save your PIN or password, the consent of your bank will expire on a daily basis.
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If you want to automatically import your bank statements, carry out the following in the business account details form:
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In the Live import section select the Live import active check box.
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In the Live import section check your IBAN and the defined date range in the Access data field. If required, you can adjust the number of days of data you want to import.
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In the Process starter section select the Automatically collect incoming payments check box.
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Optional: Select the pain.001.001.03 check box if you want to create a SEPA XML file from this account in pain.001.001.03 format. You can upload that file to your bank to initiate payment of liabilities and credit notes.
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Click Save.
The designation of your account will remain the same but the type of the account is changed to Live Banking Connection.
You can now use your former HBCI account to import your incoming payments as usual.
Warning
If you switch from HBCI to finAPI (= live banking), pay attention to the overlapping days of the old and new connection in order to avoid duplicates in the imported transactions in the import. The following settings are important:
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Set the last days to be retrieved to "1" - this ensures that only the last day and not other past bookings are retrieved.
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Set the collection of the bank account to manual - this ensures that no bookings are collected automatically and posted automatically by mistake.
Steps for the settings when collecting bookings (avoid duplicates):
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To keep the overlap between HBCI and finAPI and the number of duplicates as low as possible, we recommend temporarily setting the number of days in the field Since (number in days) to "1". If the import via HBCI has been running until today, you will retrieve the bookings from today and yesterday.
If the import via HBCI has already stopped working in the last four days and no bookings have been imported, then the value "4" should be set to retrieve the bookings from the last four days.
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Check incoming payments for duplicates, especially on the first day after the changeover. If the Automatically post incoming payments option is activated, we recommend temporarily deactivating this option. This allows you to see which postings are automatically found and assigned.
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Post duplicates for this one overlap day in the incoming payment to "Import error". Info: Recognized duplicates for orders/invoices with already linked postings are highlighted in orange. Other duplicates can look like normal "new" bookings and are not automatically marked as duplicates. Duplicates must be manually marked as import errors to avoid duplicate bookings.
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After 5 days, for example, you can enter a value of "5" in the Since (number in days) field. Or after 10 days a value of "10" to pick up a larger past period again. You can change the posting of account statements back to automatic after a few days if you have not received any duplicates.
To create a new Live Banking Connection business account:
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Go to App Center > Accounting > Business accounts.
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Click on +NEW.
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Click on the Live Banking Connection tile. The Finapi credentials form is displayed.
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Enter your IBAN and click Next. A confirmation of the account creation is displayed.
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Click Next. The account details form for your new Live Banking Connection business account is displayed. Your IBAN is automatically entered in the following fields:
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Live import section > Access data field
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Account-specific settings section > IBAN field
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You can select to automatically import your bank statements.
To activate the automatic import of your bank statements:
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In your accounts details form scroll down to the Live import section and select the Live import active check box. This will activate the live import option of your bank statements.
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The Access data field in the Live import section contains your IBAN and a pre-set definition of how many days of data going back from the current date are to be imported. If required, you can adjust the number of days for data import here.
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Scroll down to the Process starter section and select the Automatically collect incoming payments option. By selecting this option, your bank data will be retrieved four times a day: at 5am, 9am, 11am, and 4pm.
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Click Save.
Optional:
You can use Xentral outgoing payment data (liabilities/credit notes) to initiate a SEPA transfer. For that purpose assign the relevant payments in the Receipt of Payment module to the Live Banking Connection account. A SEPA XML file can be created for manual upload to the bank. Some banks require this SEPA XML file in the pain.001.001.03 format. To create this in the correct format, select the pain.001.001.03 check box in the Account-specific settings section of your Live Banking Connection business account.
Most likely you haven't registered your IBAN with finAPI yet. In this case you will see a corresponding message at the top of your account details form. Here you can also find a button that will automatically redirect you to finAPI.
To register your IBAN at finAPI:
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In the info message at the top of the screen in Xentral click Register your account at finAPI. You are redirected to the finAPI credentials form. This credentials form will vary depending on your bank but might for example look like this:
For some banks you will be redirected to your bank for login.
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Enter your online banking credentials and follow the instructions. You have to authorize the connection with a TAN.
Note
During the registration process you can select to save your PIN or your password, depending on the bank. If you do not select to save your PIN or password, the consent of your bank will expire on a daily basis.
Once authorized, finAPI will retrieve your bank account details. This can take a few minutes.
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Once your bank details have been successfully retrieved, finAPI displays a confirmation message. Now select among the following options:
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You can check the connected bank account by clicking on the blue downward-facing arrow next to Importierte Bankkonten. Your connected bank accounts are displayed.
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If you have more than one bank account for your company (e.g. additional credit card accounts or department-specific accounts), you can import your other bank accounts by clicking Weitere Konten abrufen.
Note
To import your additional bank accounts into Xentral , please create a new business account for each bank account.
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You can return to Xentral by clicking Zurück zur Anwendung.
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Once back in Xentral click Save.
Your IBAN is registered with finAPI and you can use your Live Banking Connection business account to retrieve your bank statements.
You can now switch to Accounting > Receipt of payment where the new Live Banking Business account is displayed. Import your incoming payments by clicking . The Import payments form is displayed. Click Live import to import the incoming payments.
Note
You might be required to reauthorize the connection from time to time for security reasons. A dedicated message telling you when that is the case will be displayed on top of the business account form. Click the button for reauthorization in the message to start the process.
Do not forget to save your PIN or password in finAPI if you do not want to enter your PIN or password each time you use finAPI.
Legacy module
The module described in this article section has been marked as a legacy module. This means the following:
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We don't create new features for this module or fix any bugs.
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The module is not available anymore in Xentral instances (demo or licensed) created after 28-Sep-2022. If you as a new user have special requirements that could only be fulfilled by this module, please contact our customer support team to discuss a solution.
For more information, see also Why is Xentral deprecating some modules (Legacy modules) and what does this mean for you?
In the settings you can set the type to HBCI/FinTS (HBCI4PHP) and enter the bank details with owner, BIC, etc.
You can define the following settings:
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Name: Enter the name of your account
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Type: Select an account type from the drop-down menu
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Project: Optionally enter a project
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Active: Select this check box to activate the account
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No email: Select this check box if no email should be sent to the customer when payment is received
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Allow changes: Select this check box to allow for subsequent changes to posting entries
Note
As of version 21.1 the account types FinTS and HBCI are combined in one interface in Xentral .
API: You can get the PIN/TAN URL from your bank upon request. By now most products have their own connection data(base).
FHP_BANK_URL=>https://urlyourbankissues.de/abc/def;
FHP_BANK_IBAN=>DE1234567890123456789;
FHP_BANK_BIC=>ABCDEF123456;
FHP_ONLINE_BANKING_USERNAME=>123456789;
FHP_ONLINE_BANKING_PIN=>{PASSWORD};
API_DAYS=>10;
LOGGING=>1;
FHP_TAN_VERFAHREN=>photoTAN;
The following parameters can be better understood through an example. Let's assume the last live import took place on 01.01.2022 and today is 19.01.2022.
The parameter API_DAYS specifies the time frame between imports. It creates a period between the last import and the current time. In our example API_DAYS => 10, i.e. the next import will import data starting 10.01.22 until today (19.01.22). The days will be added to the last import date.
API_MAX_DAYS_BEFORE specifies the maximum number of days before the last import that should be considered. If API_MAX_DAYS_BEFORE => 90, 90 days before the last import are taken into account. In this case that would be the data from 03.10.2021 until today (19.01.22). The days are therefore subtracted from the last import date.
Important
The parameters API_DAYS and API_MAX_DAYS_BEFORE are not compatible with each other and should not be used together!
With the parameter API_DAYS_WAIT current data can be ignored. If API_DAYS_WAIT => 1, then the current day is not imported. This means in our example only data from 01.01.22 to 18.01.22 would be imported. The days specified here will be subtracted from the current day.
LOGGING outputs the transactions when collecting incoming payments if the log file (module=logfile) is activated. The detail levels 1 to 5 can be used here.
FHP_TAN_VERFAHREN contains the TAN medium used to generate the TAN. The name of the medium depends on the TAN method allowed by your bank.
Note
A list of FinTS capable banks with their URL can be found here: https://hbci4php.web-cloud-apps.com/fints_institute.xls
Example for the bank URLs:
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Deutsche Bank: https://fints.deutsche-bank.de/
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Postbank: https://hbci.postbank.de/banking/hbci.do
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Volksbank Raiffeisenbank: https://hbci11.fiducia.de/cgi-bin/hbciservlet
Special case: At Postbank a business account may have an additional profile behind the new access ID. This profile starts with the character #, followed by letters and characters. This means that the live import may work under certain circumstances.
FHP_BANK_URL=>https://hbci.postbank.de/banking/hbci.do;
FHP_BANK_IBAN=>DE123456789012345678;
FHP_BANK_BIC=>PBNKDEFF;
FHP_ONLINE_BANKING_USERNAME=> (Customer-ID)#XXX;
FHP_ONLINE_BANKING_PIN=>{PASSWORD};
API_DAYS=>7;
Note
Unfortunately, the live import is not available for Commerzbank, HypoVereinsbank and Comdirect Bank.
Click Set Password and enter your password. The password will be encrypted as you enter it and the field is cleared after you save your password. If you are not sure you have entered the correct password, enter it again. Setting the password is a separate right in the user administration.
Note
The password may only contain 1 special character, the live import will not work otherwise. The line FHP_ONLINE_BANKING_PIN=>{PASSWORD}; in the API code must not be changed if the password vault is used.
Please check if the function HBCI + or FinTS or PIN/TAN is activated in your online banking. At Deutsche Bank for example, the function can be activated here:
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Services → OnlineSelf Services → Order PhoneBanking Pin and HBCI + Activation → Activate HBCI Plus Usage (is activated)
Collective debits can be created in Xentral in the Payment transactions module. This way several payments are combined into one single payment.
These payments can be broken down into single items again byXentral. This is visible in the account statements in Xentral and facilitates the assignment of payments to sales orders, credit notes, and invoices.
To enable individual bookings:
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For HBCI/FinTS (HBCI4PHP): Select Einzelbuchungen aktivieren (Enable individual bookings) in the Account-specific settings section.
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For Live Banking Connection: Go to the Live import section and enter individual_payments=>1; into the Access data field.
Sometimes there can be connection problems or inconsistent communication between Xentral and finAPI. If Xentral detects such a connection error, a message will appear above the business account form. Click the Verbindung löschen (Delete connection) button in the message to reset your configuration and reconfigure your connection from scratch. In many cases this will fix the connection.
Important
This process will not delete the business account or any of the posted data! It will only reset the finAPI connection linked to the business account.
The button to reset your connection is only displayed when an error occurs.
If your bank is using FinTS, they will require you to regularly provide strong authentication in order to retrieve new transactions. Your authentication can't be used for longer periods of time as with XS2A, and you'll need to enter your credentials frequently, such as daily. This process is dependent on your bank and cannot be influenced by Xentral or finAPI.