RBA deputy governor Ric Battelino left out any discussion of the maturity of bank liabilities in his speech at the Australasian Finance & Banking Conference 2009 yesterday, but did go on to touch on some very hot topics around the industry, and in particular differences between bigger banks and the bank regulator, APRA.The major theme of Battelino's speech was really the flightiness of bank liabilities, almost regardless of their source.He noted, consistent with the draft liquidity policy of APRA, that what he (and APRA) term "internet deposits" are "less stable than other at-call deposits".So too, he said, were deposits from corporates and other financial institutions. Battelino did not go into reasons, though more professional management of this money is obviously one. The lessons from the flows of corporate funds out of unguaranteed British banks in to guaranteed Irish banks early on in the worst phase of the crisis in 2008 may be another.He also pointed out that the effort to extend the maturity of a bank's deposit book by piling on term deposits has flaws, since depositors still expect to withdraw funds at short notice (though forgoing interest) and banks can hardly decline to do so.Or as Battelino put it: "While a bank could try to enforce the contractual maturity on its funding, the reality is that, unless the bank is already in great difficulty, this could draw attention to itself and accentuate its problems."He did not go into any discussion of long-dated funding from foreign and local institutions: perhaps the view is that US insurance companies can't really change their mind and ask for early repayment of long-dated loans to banks. Nor Australian superannuation funds for that matter.