A certified cheque or certified check is defined as a form of cheque for which the bank verifies that the sufficient fund exists in the account to cover the cheque, and so certifies at the time the cheque is written. Those funds are then set aside in the bank’s internal account until the cheque/check is cashed or returned by the payee. Thus a certified cheque/certified check cannot bounce and in this manner, its liquidity is similar to cash, absent failure of the bank or illegal act (such as funds being based on fraudulent loan, at which point the cheque will be disavowed. )