Import a BMO Statement (CSV or PDF) - Fininja

Fininja

Import your BMO statement into Fininja

Fininja's importer is format-agnostic: it reads the CSV or PDF your bank exports and works out which fields hold the date, the description and the amount. Download your BMO activity and upload it.

CSV supportedPDF supported

Fininja never asks for your BMO online banking credentials. You export the file and choose what to upload.

Read by the same importer - but not separately tested

Fininja does not ship a BMO sample statement in its test suite, so we make no claim that this specific export has been verified. It is read by the same format-agnostic importer that handles the formats we do test.

How to download your BMO statement

These steps cover BMO chequing, savings and Mastercard accounts.

  1. Sign in to BMO Online Banking
    Use a desktop browser - the full site normally offers more export options than the app.
  2. Select the account
    Open the chequing, savings or Mastercard account you want to export so you are on its transaction list.
  3. Look for a download or export option
    It is usually near the transaction list or the date filter, often shown as a download icon.
  4. Choose CSV and a date range
    Prefer plain CSV or spreadsheet over formats aimed at specific accounting software. If no CSV is offered for the period you want, download the PDF statement instead.
  5. Upload the file to Fininja
    Review the staged transactions, correct anything that was read or categorised wrongly, then save.

A note on accuracy: these steps were written from publicly documented flows and have not been verified against BMO Bank of Montreal's current interface, which changes from time to time. The general path - sign in, open the account, look for the download or statements option - holds up even when a menu moves. If yours looks different, tell us and we will correct this page.

What Fininja does with the file

The file is read, whatever shape it is in
Fininja's importer is format-agnostic. It inspects the file you upload - headers, or no headers at all - and works out which field is the date, which is the description and which is the amount. Once it has seen a layout it remembers the signature, so the next statement in the same format is quicker.
Nothing is saved until you say so
Imported transactions land in a staging area. You look them over, fix anything that was read or categorised wrongly, and only then do they join your transaction history.
Likely duplicates are flagged
Re-importing a period you already loaded is normal - date ranges overlap. Rows that look like something already in your history are marked as potential duplicates in the review step so you can leave them out.
Categorization learns from your corrections
Categories are predicted by a model trained on your own past corrections, not on a generic merchant list. Transactions it cannot place fall back to a usage-capped OpenAI lookup. Every correction you make makes the next import better.

What we do with the data you upload is spelled out in our privacy policy.

BMO import FAQ

Has Fininja been tested against BMO's export specifically?
Not against a real BMO file, no - and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise. The importer does not work from a list of banks it recognises; it inspects whatever file you give it. If something comes through wrong you will see it in the review step before it is saved, and we would like to hear about it.
What if the import gets a column wrong?
Nothing is saved until you approve it, so a bad read costs you the upload and nothing else. Send us the details and we will fix the handling of that format.
Does Fininja need my BMO online banking login?
No, and it never asks for one. There is no account linking and no aggregator sitting between you and your bank. You sign in to BMO Bank of Montreal yourself, download the file, and upload that file to Fininja. Fininja only ever sees the statement you choose to give it.
What happens right after I upload the file?
The importer works out which column or field holds the date, the description and the amount, then puts the resulting transactions in a staging area. Nothing is added to your history until you have looked through them and approved them. Rows that look like something you have already imported are flagged as potential duplicates so you can skip them.
What if a transaction lands in the wrong category?
Change it. Categorization runs on a model trained on your own corrections, so the fix teaches it your habits - the same merchant should land correctly next time. Transactions the model cannot place fall back to a usage-capped OpenAI lookup.
Is importing statements free?
Fininja has a free tier and a $4.99/month premium plan. CSV and PDF statement imports and auto-categorization are part of the premium plan - see the pricing section on the homepage for what each tier includes.

Importing from another bank?

Start with your last BMO statement

Create an account, upload the file, and see your spending sorted - with every transaction still yours to review before it is saved.