March 2, 2026 9 min read

    Parse Bank Statements from PDFs: API Pattern Guide

    Use robust extraction + validation to build reconciliation-ready transaction feeds.

    Bank statements vary heavily by issuer and locale. Use a two-pass pipeline: structured extraction first, then normalization and balance checks.

    Two-pass pipeline

    1. Extract text/layout tables using parse mode `layout` or `tables`.
    2. Normalize rows to `date`, `description`, `debit`, `credit`, `balance`.
    3. Validate arithmetic continuity and month boundaries.

    Reliability checks

    • Opening + net movement = closing balance
    • Currency code consistency
    • Duplicate transaction detection

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