NAB deputy CEO Michael Ullmer says the higher liquidity reserve levels adopted during the global financial crisis have remained as the crisis has receded.And, he told the Australian Centre for Financial Studies' panel discussion yesterday, the higher liquidity was likely to remain, with "dramatic implications" for the availability and cost of lending."In our case, the liquidity reserves we were holding throughout the GFC were four times what we went into the GFC with," he told his Melbourne audience. "We are still holding that level of reserves, and I imagine our colleagues at the other banks are doing the same."NAB has also put its balance-sheet wholesale funding on a more sustainable basis, he said, increasing the average term of its funding.The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority is working towards ensuring the banks have the ability to survive for at least 30 days in a liquidity crisis, up from the current five days. Ullmer's comments suggest this target may now not be as difficult to reach as early reactions suggested.