Convert Wise CSV to Xero

The short answer

The Wise file has 18 columns, dates written as YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS and an unsigned amount with a direction column. The CSV written for Xero has the columns Date,Amount,Payee,Description,Reference. So the date is rewritten as DD/MM/YYYY, the amount is written as one signed number, and the text columns are moved as in the table below.

Paid profile. The free manual column mapper works for any bank, this one included, but the free version writes only the first 25 converted rows of a file. The 9 USD one-time licence adds the ready-made Wise profile (one of the 35 paid profiles) and removes the 25-row limit. The column table on this page is free to read and can be used to fill in the manual mapper.

Open the converter

The converter runs in your browser. Your file is not uploaded.

What the Wise CSV looks like

• Country: International.
• Account type: transaction history export.
• Header row: yes, one row before the first transaction.
• Columns: 18, separated by commas.
• Date format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS, for example 2024-03-04 09:15:00 (the source writes it as %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S).
• Amounts: an unsigned amount with a direction column. Evidence for the direction: the source says it in words.
• Header text: the source gives column positions and meanings only, not the header names.

Note kept with this layout in the profile data: Eighteen columns. The amount column is unsigned: money in and money out sit in the same column, and the third column gives the direction. The hledger rules file labels the eighteen fields id, status, direction, date_created, date_finished, source_fee_amount, source_fee_currency, target_fee_amount, target_fee_currency, source_name, source_amount_after_fees, source_currency, target_name, target_amount_after_fees, target_currency, exchange_rate, reference, batch (the rule author's labels, not the header text). The converter must read the direction column to set the sign and should show it for confirmation.

What Xero accepts

• File type: CSV.
• Header row: optional; the vendor says a file can be imported without headings but named columns are easier to map.
• Required columns: Date, Amount.
• Optional columns: Payee, Description, Reference, Check Number.
• Amounts: One signed Amount column for both income and expenses. Income is positive; expenses are negative, written with a leading minus sign or in brackets, for example -30.00 or (30.00). Commas must not be used as the decimal mark.
• Dates: one of the date formats Xero lists on the page; the list could not be read on the checked date.

From a web search excerpt of the vendor's help page (the page itself refuses automated reading; re-check it in a browser): "Show income as positive amounts and expenses as negative amounts using a negative sign in front of the amount or with brackets, for example -30.00 or (30.00)."

Column-by-column mapping

Every column of the Wise file, left to right, and where it ends up in the Xero file.

Pitfalls for Wise to Xero

Dates

• The date must be reordered. The bank file is written year first, then month, then day (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS, for example 2024-03-04 09:15:00). The Xero file is written day first, then month, then year (DD/MM/YYYY, for example 04/03/2024).
• The date column also holds a time (2024-03-04 09:15:00). Only the date is kept; the time is dropped.
• Xero on dates: one of the date formats Xero lists on the page; the list could not be read on the checked date. The converter offers dd/mm/yyyy and mm/dd/yyyy and the user picks the one that matches the Xero organisation's region, then confirms the dates on Xero's column-mapping screen.

Amounts and their direction

• The amount column is unsigned and another column says whether the row is money in or money out. A row marked as money out becomes a negative Amount.
• Xero's own rule: One signed Amount column for both income and expenses. Income is positive; expenses are negative, written with a leading minus sign or in brackets, for example -30.00 or (30.00). Commas must not be used as the decimal mark.
• How sure the direction is: the source says it in words.

Other Xero import rules

• Only the Date and Amount fields are needed to create bank statement lines.
• Payee is recommended; if the payee is an existing contact, the name must match the contact name exactly to avoid duplicates.

Before and after: an invented example

Invented sample data. These four rows were made up for this page. They are not from a real Wise export and hold no real account, name or balance.

The source gives column positions only, so the headings below are the column number and what the column holds, not the bank's header text. The 11 unused columns of the file are left out of the table.

Do it by hand in a spreadsheet, free

These steps need no tool from this site. The cell references follow the column positions of the profile above; if your spreadsheet uses semicolons between formula arguments, replace the commas.

1. Open the Wise CSV in a spreadsheet program through its import dialog. Set the date column (column 4) to Text so the program does not reinterpret it, and leave the amount columns as numbers.
2. Row 1 is the header and the transactions start in row 2.
3. Date: rewrite column D from YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS to DD/MM/YYYY (2024-03-04 09:15:00 becomes 04/03/2024). In a new column, for the first transaction: =MID(D2,9,2)&"/"&MID(D2,6,2)&"/"&MID(D2,1,4) This formula reads the date by character position, so it only works while the dates are text and every date has a two-digit day and month. Fill it down.
4. Amounts: the amount is unsigned and column C gives the direction. Look at which words your file uses there (the public sources do not list them) and adapt the text in the formula. Signed Amount: =IF(C2="OUT",-ABS(N2),ABS(N2))
5. Text columns: fill Payee (from column 13); Description (from column 17); Reference (from column 1). Where several bank columns feed one column, join them with a separator such as " - ".
6. Apply Xero's own rules from its help page: Only the Date and Amount fields are needed to create bank statement lines. Payee is recommended; if the payee is an existing contact, the name must match the contact name exactly to avoid duplicates.
7. Keep only the new columns, put the header row Date,Amount,Payee,Description,Reference on top, save the sheet as a comma-separated CSV, and compare the dates, the direction of the amounts and the number of rows with your statement in Xero's import preview.

Or use the converter

Load the file, choose the Wise profile in the bank list and the target Xero, read the preview, then download. The conversion runs locally in your browser: the file is not uploaded, and only the licence key is sent for unlocking.

Paid profile. The free manual column mapper works for any bank, this one included, but the free version writes only the first 25 converted rows of a file. The 9 USD one-time licence adds the ready-made Wise profile (one of the 35 paid profiles) and removes the 25-row limit. The column table on this page is free to read and can be used to fill in the manual mapper.

Open the converter Licence terms

Where this layout comes from

No bank supplied or approved this layout. It was copied on 5 October 2026 from a public open-source importer file kept by volunteers: bank2ynab/bank2ynab, file bank2ynab/data/bank2ynab.conf

Also read: simonmichael/hledger, file examples/csv/other/Wise.rules

The lines used from the source: [Wise] Source Filename Pattern = transaction-history ; Header Rows = 1 ; Input Columns = skip,skip,skip,Date,skip,skip,skip,skip,skip,skip,skip,skip,Payee,Outflow,skip,skip,skip,skip ; comment: "Inflow and Outflow are in the same column"

The Xero rules come from the vendor's own help pages: central.xero.com/s/article/Import-a-CSV-bank-statement (named as text, not linked). The official page refuses automated fetches (HTTP 403 or a script-only page), so the rules were read from web search excerpts of that same official URL on the checked date. Re-check in a browser before relying on a detail.

Bank formats change. Banks alter their CSV exports without notice and vendors change their import rules, so this mapping can be out of date. If the preview looks wrong, use the manual column mapper.

Related pages

Wise to other apps

The Wise guides for YNAB, QuickBooks Online and Wave, in the bank list

Other international exports to Xero

• PayPal

All banks and apps