when a payee presents a check to the bank the bank credits the payee s account however it could take days until the bank receives the funds from the payor s bank assuming the payor and payee have accounts with different financial institutions if the payee has access to the funds immediately the receiving bank runs the risk of recording a negative cash flow to avoid this risk the bank will estimate the day it will receive the money from the paying institution and hold the funds in the payee s account until the expected day of receipt in effect the bank will post the amount of the deposit for a couple of days after which the payee can use the funds the date the funds are released is referred to as the value date 
likewise when a wire transfer is made from an account in one bank to an account in another bank the value date is the date on which the incoming wire becomes available to the receiving bank and its customer value date in trading