With all the talk of the banks increasingly relying on deposits for funding and decreasing their reliance on wholesale markets, observers may be losing track of just how much wholesale funding the banks have undertaken this year.In the domestic bond market, the four major banks have issued A$24 billion of bonds over the year to date compared with less than $20 billion last year. In international markets, the major banks have raised the equivalent of $71 billon in the year to date compared with a total of only $54 billion in 2011.One possible explanation for the greater volume of wholesale issuance seen this year is that the banks are taking advantage of favourable market conditions while they can, and are even making inroads into next year's funding task. This is certainly a claim being made by Commonwealth Bank.Another possible explanation is that the major banks are refinancing some of the bonds maturing from the record volume of issuance undertaken in 2009. This was when the banks were issuing bonds hand over fist, much of it with the benefit of a Commonwealth government guarantee.During 2009, the four major banks issued $40 billion of bonds in the domestic market and the equivalent of a massive $130 billion in offshore markets.Of the 2009 domestic market issuance, $14.1 billion matures this year, along with $34.6 billion of offshore issuance.Thus, more than half of the issuance undertaken by the four major banks this year is accounted for by maturing bonds issued in 2009. Unfortunately for the banks, the cost of three year debt really hasn't changed.The average spread paid on three-year bonds in 2009 was 110 basis points, including the 70 bps paid to the government for the guarantee.Looking further out, $19.4 billion of bonds were issued by the major banks in the domestic market in 2009 with a five year term to maturity. There was also the equivalent of $38.1 billion of five-year bonds issued in international markets.This suggests that 2014 will also be a big year for bond issuance by the major banks. The banks will be hoping that five year credit spreads will have contracted from their current levels by then. The average spread paid on five-year bonds in 2009 was just 138 bps.