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EDIFACT message guide · Finance

FINSTA Financial statement of an account

The UN/EDIFACT message banks use to send customers statements of booked items on their accounts.

Sent by
Bank or financial institution
Received by
Account holder
Standard
UN/EDIFACT · Batch message
X12 equivalent
No direct equivalent

What is the EDIFACT FINSTA message?

FINSTA is the UN/EDIFACT financial statement of an account message. The directory describes it as a message for various communication functions between financial institutions and their customers, most often to provide a statement of booked items confirming entries on a customer's account. One message can contain several accounts.

Treasury and accounting teams load statements to see balances and to reconcile bank entries with expected receipts and payments. Each booked item carries amounts, dates and references that cash application processes use to match incoming payments.

How the EDIFACT FINSTA message worksDiagram of the UN/EDIFACT FINSTA Financial statement of an account message. Bank or financial institution sends it to account holder. It usually starts the exchange. Inside the UNB and UNH envelopes, the directory D.21A requires, in the start of message: BGM (Beginning of message) and DTM (Date/time/period) and body and segment groups: the required SG4 loop with LIN (Line item), FII (Financial institution information), RFF (Reference) and the required SG5 loop with MOA (Monetary amount). 5 conditional segment groups are listed by their trigger segment.How the EDIFACT FINSTA message worksFinancial statement of an account: who sends it, where it fits and what the directory marks mandatory1 WHERE IT FITSUSUALLY FOLLOWSStarts the exchangeFINSTASENDERBank or financialinstitutionRECEIVERAccount holderCONTRL syntax report back, if agreedUSUALLY FOLLOWED BYNo business reply expected2 WHAT DIRECTORY D.21A REQUIRESInterchange: sender and recipient IDsUNB … UNZMessage FINSTAUNH … UNTSTART OF MESSAGEBGMBeginning of messageDTMDate/time/periodBODY AND SEGMENT GROUPSMandatory group SG4 · repeats up to 9,999LINLine itemFIIFinancial institution informationRFFReferenceMandatory group SG5 · repeats up to 99MOAMonetary amount+ 5 conditional groups, starting with:RFFFIINADSEQAUTBlue box: mandatory segment group. Conditional groups are listed by the trigger segment that starts them; a group is sent only when its data applies.Conditional segments outside groups are not drawn.Structure: mandatory segments and groups in the UN/EDIFACT directory D.21A listing for FINSTA. Your trading partner's implementation guide adds itsown requirements.
How the EDIFACT FINSTA message worksDiagram of the UN/EDIFACT FINSTA Financial statement of an account message. Bank or financial institution sends it to account holder. It usually starts the exchange. Inside the UNB and UNH envelopes, the directory D.21A requires, in the start of message: BGM (Beginning of message) and DTM (Date/time/period) and body and segment groups: the required SG4 loop with LIN (Line item), FII (Financial institution information), RFF (Reference) and the required SG5 loop with MOA (Monetary amount). 5 conditional segment groups are listed by their trigger segment.How the EDIFACT FINSTAmessage worksFinancial statement of an account: who sendsit, where it fits and what the directory marksmandatory1 WHERE IT FITSUSUALLY FOLLOWSStarts the exchangeFINSTASENDERBank orfinancialinstitutionRECEIVERAccount holderCONTRL syntax report back, if agreedUSUALLY FOLLOWED BYNo business reply expected2 WHAT DIRECTORY D.21A REQUIRESInterchange: sender and recipient IDs(UNB … UNZ)Message FINSTA (UNH … UNT)START OF MESSAGEBGMBeginning of messageDTMDate/time/periodBODY AND SEGMENT GROUPSMandatory group SG4 · repeats upto 9,999LINLine itemFIIFinancial institutioninformationRFFReferenceMandatory group SG5 · repeatsup to 99MOAMonetary amount+ 5 conditional groups, starting with:RFFFIINADSEQAUTBlue box: mandatory segment group. Conditionalgroups are listed by the trigger segment thatstarts them; a group is sent only when its dataapplies. Conditional segments outside groups arenot drawn.Structure: mandatory segments and groups in theUN/EDIFACT directory D.21A listing for FINSTA.Your trading partner's implementation guide adds itsown requirements.

How to read this diagram: the top row shows who sends FINSTA, to whom, and which messages usually come before and after it. The lower part shows what the directory D.21A itself requires: the envelopes around FINSTA and the segments and segment groups it marks mandatory. Conditional groups are listed by their trigger segment rather than drawn in full. This is the directory's minimum, not a trading partner's requirement: a message implementation guide, such as an industry subset or a partner’s own guide, usually makes some conditional groups mandatory, restricts the codes and may use an older directory.

Expand diagram Download SVG

When it is used

  • Receiving daily account statements from a bank
  • Reconciling bank entries with the ledger
  • Monitoring balances across several accounts

Where it fits in the message flow

This message FINSTA Financial statement of an account

No other message routinely comes directly before or after FINSTA; it is exchanged when the business event occurs. If the partners agree, the receiver confirms each interchange with a CONTRL syntax and service report.

Structure

Mandatory segments in FINSTA (directory D.21A)

In UN/EDIFACT directory D.21A, the FINSTA message has 27 segment positions arranged in 7 segment groups. These are the segments and segment groups marked mandatory at message level, in order; a mandatory group is shown with the segment that starts it. Segments inside conditional groups are needed only when the group is used. This is the directory’s requirement, not your trading partner’s: each partner’s message implementation guide names the directory it uses, often an older one such as D.96A or D.01B where the structure can differ, makes some conditional segments mandatory and restricts the codes.

  • UNH
  • BGM
  • DTM
  • SG4 (LIN)
  • UNT

Practical example

FINSTA in practice

A logistics group holds accounts at three banks across Europe. Each morning the banks send FINSTA statements with the previous day's opening and closing balances and every booked credit and debit. The group's treasury system loads them, updates cash positions and matches incoming customer payments to open invoices.

Implementation

Implementation considerations for FINSTA

  • Confirm the statement format each bank offers; many also provide ISO 20022 or MT940 statements.
  • Map transaction codes and references so automatic matching works.
  • Check opening balances against the previous closing balance.
  • Secure the channel, since statements contain sensitive financial data.

How ECOM helps

Automate FINSTA with ECOM

Solution

Financial Document Automation

Automate invoices, remittances, payment files and bank statements from capture to posting.

Industry

Financial Services

Secure file transfer and B2B integration for banks and financial institutions.

Solution

EDI Integration

Exchange X12 and EDIFACT documents with partners and integrate them directly with your ERP.

Compare X12 and EDIFACT, or see answers to general questions in the EDI FAQ.

Related messages

Related finance messages

All 37 finance messages

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