A settlement file is a machine-readable file that records the transactions included in a settlement and the money moved as a result. Card networks send them to issuers and acquirers after each clearing cycle; acquirers, payment gateways and payment facilitators send them to merchants; and clearing houses send them to participating banks. A typical file lists each transaction with its reference, date, amount, currency, fees and type, such as sale, refund or chargeback, and gives totals that match the payout or settlement entry.
Settlement files arrive in formats ranging from simple CSV exports to fixed-width proprietary layouts and structured bank statements such as camt.053. Firms load them into their ledgers and reconciliation tools to match each settled item with their own records, a process covered in settlement reconciliation. Late, missing or malformed files are a common cause of settlement exceptions. A settlement file differs from a settlement report, which presents similar information in a human-readable summary.