Xero User News - Xero bank feed changes

Xero user news - Updating bank feeds is getting that much easier!

Xero bank feeds were a game changer when they were introduced back in 2007. The ability to automatically import bank transactions directly into your Xero organisation from an online banking account on a daily basis made bank reconciliation easier and timelier. At that time, once a bank feed was connected it would continue to feed in bank transactions until it was disconnected.

However, following changes to GDPR and the move to open banking bank feeds, it became necessary for the account holder or someone with full access to the online banking account to log in to their online banking account every 90 days to refresh the bank feed authority. This became an inconvenience for some businesses, particularly those who outsource their bookkeeping or VAT preparation.

Now a solution is in sight, as Xero has agreed with some banks that feeds will be available to be updated by other agreed users. To be clear, the account holder (or someone with full admin access to the account) would still have to log in and authorise the initial bank feed connection, however, they can then specify other Xero users who would be given permission to reauthorise the feed every 30 days from Xero, without having access to or having to log in to the online banking account.

If Armstrong Watson prepares your VAT Returns and you currently send in bank statements each period, we will be contacting you shortly to offer assistance with setting up bank feeds and request permission to refresh those feeds in future.

More bank and credit card feeds are being added to Xero all the time, so if you are still manually entering transactions for bank, card PayPal or Stripe accounts it is worth checking to see if they can now be automated.

Xero’s list of available bank feeds can be found here - Bank feeds available in Xero – Xero Central.