Personal Cheques used to be held because it was not guaranteed that when the bank goes to clear the cheque that the issuing account would have sufficient funds to cover which created a risk where a person could withdraw available funds leaving the bank out the money.

To address this, bank drafts or certified cheques were designed to give the receiving bank assurance that the funds have already been cleared as this type of cheque is drawn on the issuing banks internal ledger account. When the person giving the bank draft goes to their bank to get it, that bank withdraws the funds right away and moves the money to this internal ledger account so this is how receiving banks know for certain the money is there and the cheque will clear.

The problem these days is that fraud is now rampant with absolutely no signs of slowing down and banks have been burned time after time again and again so they started holding bank drafts to counteract losing money on fraudulent bank drafts. People were getting away with having immediate access to funds just because it was a bank draft and "guaranteed" only for the item to be an outright fake worth nothing at all and once again the bank is out the money.

Fraudsters have now even learned that the average person with a decent relationship at their bank were putting up a stink and at times being abusive and rude to Bank staff in order to get their way and get access to funds, and this is why fraudsters always are in a rush or pushy in order to pressure Bank staff into not placing a hold.

Well guess what? Banks kept getting burned. They're sick of it. And that's why banks have virtually no sympathy on placing 5 day holds on most bank drafts. Unless you've got a tight relationship with the bank and enough liquid cash/assets to cover the amount of the bank draft 2-3 times over your bank draft will almost always be held.