16 Cash and cash equivalents
| | 2017 | 2016 |
Bank deposits | 5,000 | 5,000 |
Bank balances | 35,424 | 22,523 |
Balance as at 31 December | 40,424 | 27,523 |
The bank balances of € 35.4 million are freely available to the Fund as at 31 December 2017. In order to minimalise the costs of the negative interest rate on the bank balances, during 2017 the Fund used 30-day bank deposits. The bank deposits of € 5.0 million have a 30 days' notice period.