Much of the stress imposed by the onset of the financial crisis six years ago has washed through the system, with the bonds of major banks trading at spreads approaching as low a point as at any time in that period.The quarterly Statement on Monetary Policy from the Reserve Bank of Australia on Friday highlights the significance of "the maturing of debt issued in 2008 and 2009 at high spreads [which] has meant that the outstanding cost of wholesale debt has continued to decline over the past few months."For covered bonds from major banks, spreads over Commonwealth Government bonds are even lower than the spread on unsecured bank bonds during the early phase of the crisis. The RBA said this decrease in long-term wholesale funding costs "made only a small contribution to the decline in banks' overall funding costs," over the last three months.The average spread on outstanding bank bonds has declined over the last year or so, while spreads on new bond issues have stabilised in recent months.The RBA analysis of bank funding costs emphasised that "the effects of a decline in deposit rates and favourable wholesale funding conditions have been offset by a change in the deposit mix towards transaction and at-call accounts.""This has been driven by banks reducing rates on term deposits relative to comparable at-call 'bonus saver' accounts, which have higher advertised rates."