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Batch reporting

FINTRAC’s multi-year initiative to implement important changes to its reporting forms

On this page

  1. What is batch reporting?
  2. How can I use batch reporting?
  3. Batch documentation

What is batch reporting?

Batch reporting is the submission of multiple reports, or corrections to reports, in batch files that are formatted following FINTRAC's specifications.  Transmission software is provided by FINTRAC.  The reports that can be submitted by batch are:

In some cases, you may correct reports submitted by batch using FINTRAC web reporting (F2R), the secure online system accessed over the internet.  See the batch documentation for more information.

How can I use batch reporting?

There are four steps to follow in order to use batch reporting.

Step 1: Enroll with FINTRAC for electronic reporting

Contact us to enroll in the FINTRAC web reporting system by:

To enroll, you will need to provide:

Your FINTRAC web reporting system administrator will receive a username and password for the system. Your administrator manages access for your organization's users and maintains information about the locations and contacts you will use on your reports. 

Step 2: Apply for a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Certificate

You need a PKI certificate to protect your batch files. This certificate acts as a digital signature and tells FINTRAC who sent the file.

You can request a copy of the PKI subscriber agreement when you enroll or you can contact us by:

When you sign and submit the PKI Subscriber agreement, you are agreeing to follow the obligations described in FINTRAC's Certificate Policy.

Once your application is accepted, we will contact the designated certificate holder (DCH) listed on your application by phone with the information needed to complete this step and also download the batch transmission software.

Step 3: Install the batch transmission software

Follow the instructions in the CloudMask Batch Transmission guide to install and configure the software. The guide also tells you how to transmit files to FINTRAC using the software.

Step 4: Complete the batch certification process

You have to send batch files using the software's test channel to show that your files are correctly formatted.  You need to certify each report type independently to be submitted by batch.   Refer to FINTRAC's batch documentation for instructions on how to build a batch file for each report type. 

The batch files you submit for certification need to:

You need to send at least five files for each report type to be certified for that report type.  You should receive acknowledgment files from FINTRAC in your inbound channel within hours of sending your batch files.  The acknowledgement file has the processing results for your batch files.  If there are errors, such as incorrect formatting, missing mandatory fields or invalid location numbers, you will have to resubmit your batch file.   

To certify, four of your last five batch files need to be free of formatting errors, include all mandatory fields and contain only valid location numbers.  Once four of your last five batch files have been successfully processed, we will send confirmation by email that you have been certified for that report type.  You will then be able to use the production channel for that report type.  

Note that each time the format changes for a report you will need to go through the batch certification process.

You will be notified within 24 hours of having successfully completed the batch acceptance test. This means that you successfully submitted four out of your last five test files in a training channel for a particular report type, according to the process outlined in the batch reporting instructions and specifications. It also means that you can start to submit real batch files for that report type in the production channel.

If you need help with the batch certification process, please contact FINTRAC's service desk at tech@fintrac-canafe.gc.ca or 1-866-346-8722 and press <3> after choosing your language.

Batch documentation

The documents below describe how to create, submit and correct batch files.  Documents marked with an asterisk include specific details on how to use all of the batch documentation listed in this section.  

Batch transmitting guide

Public Key Infrastructure certificate policy

Batch transmission data quality issues questions and answers

Standard Batch Reporting Instructions and Specifications

SWIFT Batch Reporting Instructions and Specifications

XML Batch Reporting Instructions and Specifications

XML Schema

Please note the XML schemas are in .TXT files, you should save them as .XSD files.

Report Validation Rules

Codes for error messages – June 2021

Reporting related codes

In your batch reports you will be required to provide codes for information about countries, provinces, territories, states, currency, etc. The attached tables provide the necessary codes. Two formats are offered for better accessibility TXT=text format and XLS= Microsoft Excel.

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