MT900 — Confirmation of Debit

The debit ticket: the account-servicing bank (typically the correspondent) confirms to its client / ordering bank that an amount has been debited, with value date and originating reference.

Purpose

MT900 confirms a one-off debit on an account held with the sending bank (nostro / vostro). It is the counterpart of MT910 (credit). Together they form the real-time confirmation layer letting a bank or corporate treasury maintain an accurate intraday position — without waiting for the end-of-day MT940.

Typical usages:

• confirmation of an outgoing MT202 settlement;
• confirmation of the cover debit for an MT103;
• confirmation of an FX, swap or securities trade settlement;
• confirmation of a fee debit (custody, banking).

Block 4 structure

Block 4 of MT900 is short — four mandatory tags, two conditional:

:20:    Transaction Reference Number               (mandatory)
:21:    Related Reference                          (mandatory)
:25:    Account Identification                     (mandatory)
:32A:   Value Date, Currency, Amount               (mandatory)
:52a:   Ordering Institution                       (optional — option A or D)
:72:    Sender to Receiver Information             (optional)

Tags in detail

• :20:: reference of the MT900 confirmation itself, allocated by the issuing bank. Max 16 characters, no //.
• :21:: reference of the originating flow that triggered the debit — typically the :20: of the underlying MT202 or cover MT103. NONREF if no correlated reference (rare).
• :25:: identification of the debited account. Format A (account only) or P (party identifier + account). The account is usually an IBAN or a proprietary identifier.
• :32A:: value date (YYMMDD) + ISO 4217 currency + amount (decimal comma, max 15 digits).
• :52a:: ordering institution when different from the MT900 sender. Rare.
• :72:: free line for operational information. Max 6 lines × 35 chars. Often used to remind the purpose and chain (/DEBIT/SETTLEMENT FOR…).

Real-world example

Deutsche Bank Frankfurt confirms to BNP Paribas Paris that account DE89… has been debited 12,500 EUR on 14 May 2026, linked to the MT202 settlement CORR20260514001:

{1:F01DEUTDEFFAXXX0000000000}{2:I900BNPAFRPPXXXXN}{3:{121:9e8d7c6b-5a4f-3e2d-1c0b-9a8b7c6d5e4f}}{4:
:20:DEB20260514001
:21:CORR20260514001
:25:DE89370400440532013000
:32A:260514EUR12500,00
:52A:DEUTDEFFXXX
:72:/DEBIT/SETTLEMENT FOR MT202 REF CORR20260514001
-}{5:{CHK:FEDCBA987654}}

• :20:DEB20260514001 — debit ticket reference itself.
• :21:CORR20260514001 — reference of the MT202 that triggered the debit.
• :25:DE89370400440532013000 — debited account (IBAN).
• :32A:260514EUR12500,00 — debit 14 May 2026, 12,500 EUR.
• :72:/DEBIT/… — free note recalling the context.

Common errors

• :21: = NONREF by default: makes the ticket useless for treasury auto-correlation. Always carry the originating flow reference.
• :32A: date differs from actual value date: causes a mismatch between intraday positions and the end-of-day MT940. Always use the business value date.
• Non-IBAN :25: without explicit prefix: for non-IBAN accounts (US, some jurisdictions), use the 25P option (identifier party). Otherwise ambiguity between IBAN and proprietary.
• Currency differs from account currency: an MT900 in EUR on a USD-denominated account must explicitly carry :32A: in EUR; no implicit conversion.
• Excessive latency: an MT900 should arrive within minutes of the actual debit. A bank batching MT900s at H+4 defeats the purpose.
• Character set x: same as MT103 — no accents, no extended characters.

MX equivalent — camt.054

In ISO 20022, MT900 maps to camt.054.001.08 (Bank-to-Customer Debit Credit Notification) with Ntfctn/Ntry/CdtDbtInd = DBIT. Some mappings:

Related messages

• MT910 — Confirmation of Credit (credit counterpart).
• MT940 — Customer Statement (end-of-day, aggregates day's MT900/MT910).
• MT942 — Interim Transaction Report (intraday mini-statement, groups several MT900/MT910).
• MT103 / MT202 — typical flows that trigger the debit.
• camt.054 — ISO 20022 equivalent.
• camt.053 — Bank to Customer Statement (MT940 equivalent).