Contacts: Every narration, resolved to a contact.
Bank narrations are written for the bank: SQ *BLUE BTL 4471, AMZN MKTP US*2K4, POS 0923 SHELL OIL. Bankflow identifies the business behind each one and saves it as a contact, with a role, its own rules, a ledger of what was paid and received, and a profile with its address and tax details.
Up to 50 free page credits · No card · Cancel anytime
- Identified automatically
- A ledger per contact
- Vendors, customers, contractors
You cannot ask what you spend on a supplier the statement never names.
The simplest questions about money are about who: how much went to the cloud provider this year, what the client still owes a supplier, whether the same vendor is being paid from two cards. Statements make those questions hard, because one business appears under five different narrations and a processor's prefix hides it entirely. Answering them by hand means building a lookup table that is out of date by next month. The narrations need resolving once, into contacts that stay resolved as new statements arrive.
How it works
How a narration becomes a contact
- 01
Categorized first, then identified
After a statement's transactions are categorized, descriptions that look like a business are matched against your saved contacts and their rules. Only what is left is sent for identification.
- 02
Saved, linked, and given rules
A recognised business is saved as a contact, linked to its transactions, and given a rule, so its next appearance resolves without being identified again. Fees, transfers and salary are filtered out rather than turned into contacts.
- 03
Sorted by role
Open Contacts in the sidebar. Tabs narrow the list to Vendors, Customers, Contractors, Landlords or Platforms, and each row shows its rules, transactions, role, what is still open on its bills and invoices, and its total. Until you pick a role, Bankflow suggests one from the contact's payments.
- 04
Opened to a ledger
Open a contact for its Overview: its totals, monthly history, spending by category and transactions. Its Statement has every payment and receipt, and the bills and invoices recorded against it, with what is still open and a running balance. Download it as a Statement of account CSV. Profile has the contact person, address, payment terms and Tax & 1099 details.
A supplier's ledger: their bill, the payment that looks like it paid it, and the balance. - 05
Edited in one dialog
Edit a contact's name, roles, default category and icon, and the words that recognise it, typed separated by commas, in the same dialog that creates one. Contacts created automatically are edited exactly like the ones you add.
What Contacts gives you
Automatic identification
Businesses are recognised from their narrations as statements are processed, with logos where one can be found.
Roles
Vendor, customer, contractor, landlord or platform, suggested from the payments until you choose.
A ledger per contact
Payments, receipts, bills and invoices with what is still open and a running balance.
Statement of account
A contact's ledger for any date range, downloaded as a CSV.
Spend and open balances
Sort contacts by total, transactions, or what is still open on their bills and invoices.
Resolved once
Saved contacts and their rules match first, so a recurring description is resolved once rather than on every statement.
Rules in the same dialog
The words that recognise a contact pass the same conflict checks as any rule, and are edited where the contact is.
Can be turned off
Turn off Identify contacts automatically under Settings, Security & privacy, to name contacts yourself.
FAQ
Common questions
Do I have to run a scan to identify contacts?
No. Identification runs automatically after categorization as each statement is processed. The Contacts page is where you review and edit the results.
What counts as a contact?
A business or person the client paid or was paid by: a vendor, a customer, a contractor, a landlord or a platform. Generic lines such as bank fees, transfers between accounts and salary are deliberately filtered out.
Were these called merchants before?
Yes. Merchants became contacts, with their own page in the sidebar instead of a tab under Categories. Everything they had, their rules and linked transactions included, carried over.
Can I merge two contacts that are really one?
Add the second narration's words to the contact you want to keep, and every matching transaction, past and future, resolves to it.
Where do a contractor's W-9 details go?
On the contact's Profile, under Tax & 1099. They are the same details the 1099s tab in Workpapers reads, so they are entered once.
What is sent for identification, and can I opt out?
Only descriptions that no saved contact or rule already covers are sent to an AI model to recognise the business, and the results are kept for your account alone. Automatic identification can be switched off under Settings, Security & privacy.
Guides
10 Best Bank Statement Analysis Tools in 2026
Ten bank statement analysis tools scored on workflow, accounting formats, automation, and published pricing, with what each one's free tier really gives you.
7 Best Receipt and Invoice Capture Tools for Bookkeepers (2026)
Dext, AutoEntry, Hubdoc, Datamolino, DocuClipper, QuickBooks and Bankflow compared on price per page, bank statements and what ten clients cost.
How to Analyze Bank Statements with AI: A Complete Guide
Learn how AI-powered tools extract, categorize, and analyze transactions from PDF bank statements, and what to review before using the results.
Keep exploring
Bank Statement Analyzer
Categorize spend and read cash flow from bank statements.
Monthly Close
Each client's month checked, prepared and closed.
Risk Review
An evidence-backed read of a set of statements, with no verdict.
Statement Workspace
Every row beside its line on the PDF, with merchant and category.
Tasks
Flags and found work on one list, closed when the review is done.
Find out who the client actually pays.
Upload a few months of statements, open Contacts, and see each vendor's ledger with what is still open.