Bank Integrations Overview

Connect your bank accounts to Light, automatically syncing transactions for cash management and reconciliation, while also making direct execution of payments for AP and reimbursements possible within Light. Rather than manually entering payments and uploading bank feeds, provide up-to-date visibility and streamlined reconciliation.

# What is this page about

This page covers connecting a bank feed to Light: which providers are supported, how transactions sync and match to your ledger, how reconciliation and bank fees are handled, and where to check cash across accounts. Read it before connecting your first bank account.

On this page

• Integration capabilities
• Supported banks and bank feed connectors
• Setting up a bank connection
• Transaction feed frequency
• Transaction matching and posting
• Bank reconciliation
• Bank fee handling
• Multi-currency bank accounts
• Handling transfers between accounts
• Troubleshooting bank feed connections
• Bank feed limitations
• Exporting bank reconciliation
• Seeing cash across accounts
• Related articles

# Integration capabilities

Bank integrations provide:

• International and domestic payment automation: Payments for AP and reimbursements via your bank on the payment date initiated and executed directly from Light
• Transaction feeds: automatic daily or twice-daily transaction downloads
• Balance updates: account balance visibility
• Reconciliation support: transaction matching and reconciliation
• Multi-bank support: connect accounts from multiple financial institutions

This automates cash posting and reconciliation.

# Supported banks and bank feed connectors

Light connects to banks through five feed providers:

• GoCardless (Europe and UK): Covers bank feed for European and UK banks, including Revolut, Wise, Starling, and traditional banks like HSBC. Note J.P. Morgan Chase does not support GoCardless.
• Plaid (US): Covers bank feed for thousands of institutions in the United States (note J.P. Morgan Chase does not support Plaid)
• Stripe: Imports Stripe balance transactions (requires the Stripe integration)
• Airwallex: Imports balance and transaction data for connected Airwallex accounts (requires the Airwallex integration), while also allowing payment initiation and execution
• AMC (host-to-host): Direct bank connections between banks such as HSBC, J.P. Morgan Chase, Nordea, SEB, Barclays, Jyske Bank, UBS, SVB and 500 more and Light. Setup typically takes 2-3 months and your bank may charge a fee. Provides bank feed and allows direct payment initiation and execution from Light.

Not all banks support all providers. If your bank isn't available through a feed provider, you can upload transactions manually via CSV or contact Light about host-to-host integration support.

# Setting up a bank connection

To connect a bank account:

1. Go to Accounting → Bank reconciliation and click Connect bank, or go to Settings (gear icon) → Integrations, click + Add new integration and choose Bank
2. Select your feed provider and, for GoCardless, search for your bank name
3. Choose the date to sync transactions from and a sync schedule. The date can't be changed after the connection is created
4. Click your bank (you're redirected to the bank's secure login)
5. Sign in to your online banking (Light never sees your password)
6. Authorise Light to access account information
7. Select which accounts to connect and map each one to a bank account in Light
8. Click Create feed to confirm

Light then begins receiving transaction feeds.

To disconnect a bank, open Settings (gear icon) → Integrations → Banks, click the bank and click Delete connection. To change the sync from date, delete the connection and connect again.

Note: Only users with the Company admin role can manage bank connections.

# Transaction feed frequency

Bank feeds sync on a set schedule:

• Daily: once per day, the default for most banks
• Every 12 hours: available for certain banks and account types

You can also trigger a manual sync from the account details using the refresh icon, without waiting for the scheduled sync. The refresh icon appears on accounts showing as Linked. Daily syncing is sufficient for most reconciliation needs.

# Transaction matching and posting

When bank transactions sync:

1. Light receives transaction detail: date, amount, description, counterparty

2. Light attempts to match to existing GL transactions:

   • For AR: Match to customer payment to invoice
   • For AP: Match to vendor payment to bill
   • For other: Match to journal entry

3. If match found: Transaction status updates to "Matched"

4. If no match: Transaction appears as "Unmatched" pending review

5. You can manually match unmatched items

Light uses amount, date, and description for matching.

# Bank reconciliation

Reconcile GL accounts to bank statements:

1. Navigate to Accounting → Bank reconciliation

2. Select bank account

3. Light displays:

   • GL balance (from Light ledger)
   • Bank statement balance (from bank feed)
   • Outstanding items (in Light but not on statement, or vice versa)

4. Identify reconciling items:

   • Pending deposits (recorded in Light, not yet at bank)
   • Outstanding cheques (recorded in Light, not yet cleared)
   • Bank fees (on statement, not yet recorded in Light)

5. Match each transaction, transactions show as Matched, Unmatched, or Excluded

6. Once every transaction is matched or excluded, the account is reconciled

Monthly reconciliation is standard practice.

Good to know: Bank reconciliation confirms GL accuracy and identifies discrepancies early.

# Bank fee handling

Banks charge monthly service fees, NSF fees, and similar charges:

1. The bank fee appears on your bank statement and syncs into Light as an unmatched transaction
2. During reconciliation, when a matched payment comes up short by exactly the fee amount, click the Bank Fee option
3. Light posts the fee to a fixed system account for you, so there's no GL account to choose
4. Where this happens often, a reconciliation rule can apply the same fix automatically, with no manual click needed

This keeps bank fees from causing reconciliation discrepancies.

# Multi-currency bank accounts

Each bank account in Light holds one currency and posts to one GL account code. To hold a second currency, add a second bank account for it.

When you clear a bank transaction against a document in a different currency, Light applies the exchange rate at the point you match them, and posts the resulting FX gain or loss as its own ledger line. That happens as part of the clearing itself.

# Handling transfers between accounts

When you transfer between your own accounts:

1. You create GL entries showing withdrawal from one account and deposit to another
2. Bank feeds show both transactions
3. During reconciliation, match each bank transaction to its corresponding GL entry

Matching both sides prevents double-counting internal transfers.

# Troubleshooting bank feed connections

Connection failed or expired: Bank connections expire periodically and show an Expired status. Renew the connection from Settings (gear icon) → Integrations → Banks: click the bank, click Renew connection, and re-authorise with your bank. Verify your online banking credentials and check whether your bank requires additional authentication.

Transactions not syncing: Check the sync status in Light, confirm the feed shows Active and the connection shows Linked, and contact your bank if the feed still isn't updating.

Duplicate transactions: On GoCardless feeds, Light automatically marks duplicated feed transactions as Excluded so they don't affect reconciliation. Other providers don't auto-exclude duplicates, so check the transaction ID yourself and exclude any duplicate you find, including cases where a bank sends both a corrected and an original version.

Missing transactions: Check date range of feed, verify transaction hasn't been filtered out, contact bank if transaction should have appeared.

Reconciliation discrepancies: Review GL entries vs. bank statement, identify timing differences (pending items), verify all fees are recorded.

# Bank feed limitations

Be aware of bank feed limitations:

• Transaction history depends on the provider: GoCardless connections to UK banks are limited to 90 days, and Plaid imports 90 days by default (up to 730 days for some institutions)
• Some smaller transactions may be batched/grouped
• Holiday processing may delay posting by 1-2 days
• Wire transfers show in some banks, not others

Document your bank's specific feed format.

# Exporting bank reconciliation

Keep a record of each reconciliation:

1. Complete reconciliation in Light
2. Click Export
3. Download as CSV
4. The file includes the GL balance, bank balance, and reconciling items

Store the export with your audit records and apply your own sign-off process to it.

# Seeing cash across accounts

Two views show cash across more than one account, and they draw on different data:

• Balance by bank accounts, a widget on your Home dashboard, aggregates the balances your bank feeds have synced and carries a Last updated stamp.
• Cash Balance, a chart on the SaaS Metrics dashboard, plots the daily bank balance per cash account in your group currency. It reads from the ledger rather than the bank feed, so it shows what has been posted in Light.

# Related articles

• Integrations overview
• Stripe integration
• Airwallex integration
• Cash flow statement