However, because a financial institution (FI) accepting a cheque on deposit (the negotiating FI)
often has no relationship with the person who wrote the cheque (the payor), it has no way of
verifying whether the cheque may be dishonoured due to insufficient funds in the payor’s
account, a stop payment order, a forged signature or any other reason. Only the branch of the
payor’s FI that holds the account on which the cheque is written can make this determination
once it receives the cheque from the negotiating institution. Given that approximately six million
cheques pass through the clearing system each day, it is impractical for the payor’s FI to notify
the negotiating institution immediately whether or not the cheque has been honoured. Instead, if
the cheque is dishonoured, the payor’s FI returns the actual paper cheque to the negotiating
institution using the clearing system.