Notes to the consolidated financial statements

20. Cash and balances in the Central Bank

Download note 20 in XLS

	Balance as at 31 December 2013	Balance as at 31 December 2012 (restated)
	PLN '000	PLN '000
Cash in hand	3,576	6,698
Cash in the current account at Central Bank	323,666	928,045
Total	327,242	934,743

The Group uses cash in the current account at Central Bank to cover the required reserve and carry out current cash settlements during a given day. The Group, however, has to provide an average monthly level of cash in the account in order to satisfy the minimum reserves requirements declared.
Funds taken over from Poczta Polska S.A. and classified as short-term payment transfers constitute a significant portion of the item and include:

• pension-related payments transferred in the form of cash to pensioners by Poczta Polska S.A.;
• mass payments (e.g. related to media) made in the sales network of Poczta Polska S.A.;
• own funds of Poczta Polska, mainly overnight deposits.

The funds are highly volatile (up to several million PLN per month) which results in material changes in the Group’s balance sheet total at each balance sheet date.
Additionally, the account balance in the Central Bank as at a given balance sheet date is affected by the daily level of the required reserve the Bank has to maintain during the month.