UK
About Santander statements
Santander UK is the British arm of the Spanish Santander group and a familiar high-street name here. The file you want is the official statement PDF from Online Banking, under the account's Statements & documents, not a printed mini-statement or a transaction search.
Santander tucks a payment-type label — card payment, Direct Debit, standing order or Faster Payment — inside the description column before the payee. That's exactly the detail that gets scrambled when you paste a PDF into a spreadsheet, and exactly what the converter preserves, column by column.
You keep GBP (pounds) amounts and DD/MM/YYYY dates end to end, so nothing needs re-checking after the import. A scanned statement is no problem; it's read with OCR into the same layout, with the balance checked either way.
What lands in Xero is a clean, checked file — so the only thing left is the reconciling you'd do anyway.
Why people convert Santander to Xero
Sometimes it's simplest to skip the Santander feed altogether — a one-off account, a client who won't share logins, a period the feed never covered. The converted file drops straight into Xero's Import a Statement screen and reconciles like any other month.
It's handy mid-year too, not just at catch-up. A one-off Santander account, a statement the feed skipped, or a closed account you still need on file — convert the PDF and it goes into Xero like any other import.
Import a Santander statement into Xero
Xero takes the CSV through its own Import a Statement screen.
- Convert the PDF above and download the Xero CSV.
- In Xero: Accounting → Bank accounts.
- Open the account, then Manage account → Import a statement.
- Upload the CSV — the date, description and amount columns line up.
- Reconcile the imported lines as usual.
The totals are checked first
Before the Xero-ready CSV downloads, the running balance is checked end to end. A missing or doubled line is caught at this step, not after it's already in Xero.
Frequently asked questions
How does a Santander statement get into Xero?expand_more
Yes — the CSV goes in through Xero's Import a Statement screen and the date, description and amount columns line up, so you go straight to reconciling. If Xero asks you to confirm the column mapping the first time, save it and later imports remember the layout.
How is a Santander statement laid out?expand_more
Santander tucks a payment-type label — card payment, Direct Debit, standing order or Faster Payment — inside the description column before the payee. The converter reads each of those into its own column, so the Xero-ready CSV imports into Xero cleanly.
Where do I download the Santander statement?expand_more
From Online Banking, under the account's Statements & documents. Save the PDF, then drop it into the converter above — multi-page and multi-month statements are read in one go.
Can I use a photo of my Santander statement?expand_more
Yes. Scanned or photographed PDFs are read with OCR into the same columns, and the balance check still runs, so a scan converts the same as a digital download.
Is it free?expand_more
Converting is free to start. Excel, CSV and JSON download with no login; the Xero file needs a free sign-in.