Batch reporting
FINTRAC’s multi-year initiative to implement important changes to its reporting forms
- Schedule to implement changes to FINTRAC’s reporting forms Updated on September 27, 2023
- Draft documents to help you prepare for changes to FINTRAC’s reporting forms Updated on September 27, 2023
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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:
- Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs)
- Large Cash Transaction Reports (LCTRs)
- non-SWIFT Electronic Funds Transfer Reports (EFTIs, EFTOs)
- SWIFT Electronic Funds Transfer Reports (EFTSs)
- Casino Disbursement Reports (CDRs)
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:
- sending an email to F2R@fintrac-canafe.gc.ca
- dialing 1-866-346-8722 and pressing <4> after choosing your language
To enroll, you will need to provide:
- your company's legal or business name that you will use for filing
- the main address where your company does business
- the type of reports that you will be filing
- the name of your FINTRAC web reporting system administrator
- the name of your FINTRAC web reporting system administrator's assistant, if you choose to use this role
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:
- sending an email to F2R@fintrac-canafe.gc.ca
- dialing 1-866-346-8722 and pressing <4> after choosing your language
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:
- have only one header
- have one to five sub-headers, unless you are certifying a CDR file which does not have sub-headers
- have between 25 and 100 reports of the same type
- include valid reporting entity location numbers as entered in FINTRAC web reporting by your Administrator
- have only one trailer
- be 50 kilobytes or less
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
- Module 1 General specifications
- Module 2 Suspicious transaction report specifications
- Module 3 Large cash transaction report specifications
- Module 4 Non-SWIFT electronic funds transfer report specifications
SWIFT Batch Reporting Instructions and Specifications
XML Batch Reporting Instructions and Specifications
- Module 1 General XML specifications
- Module 2 Casino disbursement report specifications
XML Schema
Please note the XML schemas are in .TXT files, you should save them as .XSD files.
- ReportSubmissionResponseXmlFileFormatV1 (TXT version, 2 kb)
- CasinoDisbursmentReportXmlFileFormatV1 (TXT version, 2 kb)
- ReportReturnForFurtherActionXmlFileFormatV1 (TXT version, 2 kb)
- ReportSubmissionExternalLibraryV1 (TXT version, 24 kb)
Report Validation Rules
- Large Cash Transaction Report Validation Rules
- Casino Disbursement Report Validation Rules
- Non-SWIFT Electronic Funds Transfer (Incoming) Validation Rules
- Non-SWIFT Electronic Funds Transfer (Outgoing) Validation Rules
- Incoming SWIFT Electronic Funds Transfer Report Validation Rules
- Outgoing SWIFT Electronic Funds Transfer Report Validation Rules
- Suspicious Transaction Report Validation Rules
- Large Virtual Currency Transaction Reports 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.
- Currency codes
- Country codes
- Canadian Province or Territory codes
- Codes for the States of the United States
- Codes for the States of Mexico
- Codes for commonly used terms
- Codes for commonly used address terms
- Date Modified: