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Submitting Mandates and Payments to Bankgirot

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Last editedMay 20221 min read

What is Bankgirot?

Bankgirot is a Swedish payment system used to transfer payments directly from one bank account to another.

The submission process

New mandates and payment requests are submitted to Bankgirot by uploading a file. The contents of this file depends on the submission, but the process is always the same:

A file is created with the required structure. The details of this are provided below. Separate sections are required for mandate and payment request submissions.
The file is uploaded using FTP or a Communication Solution, which helps keep all personal details safe.
Once successfully submitted, the contents of the file are processed by Bankgirot.

Most companies use finance software or an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to create the file, but it can be useful to understand the structure of these files. An example file for submitting mandates is available here, and one for payment requests is here.

Note that you must not submit a payment request before the Autogiro mandate has been set up.

Old and new payment files

Bankgirot recently added a new file layout for Autogiro. They are currently providing compatibility for both the old and new files types, but there are some key differences worth noting.

The type of file layout determines which reports you will receive back from Bankgirot. Bankgirot recommends that you use the new layout. This file layout covers all events and enables a completely digital Autogiro process. One of the key implications of using the old file layout is that you will not be able to fully reconcile receivables automatically. This can mean a significant amount of manual admin work is required to complete a reconciliation.

If you are using accounting software to create your reports, you should ensure this is able to support the new file layouts in order to streamline your Autogiro processes.

Submitting Autogiro mandates

Mandates are submitted in the mandate file. There are three transaction codes for submitting mandate actions to Bankgirot:

Code	Use case
03	Cancel a mandate
04	Add a mandate
05	Update the payer number

For more details on setting up mandates, see our article on Autogiro Mandates.

Submitting Autogiro payments

Payments are initiated in the payment initiation file. The codes are as follows:

Code	Use case
82	Initiate a direct debit
32	Initiate a refund

For more details on taking Autogiro payments, see here.

Submitting to Bankgirot through GoCardless

GoCardless provides a simple but powerful user interface for creating mandates and payment requests, with API access also available. We can then create and submit all messages to Bankgirot for you.

To find out more about collecting Autogiro with GoCardless visit GoCardless.com.