The global liquidity crisis has a long way to run and this may have a negative impact on the ratings of some Australian and New Zealand banks, the ratings agency Moody's warned yesterday.In a report on the impact of the crisis on Australian bank ratings, published yesterday, Moody's said banks had weathered the stresses in financial markets well so far. But it expects the crisis to be protracted and this will add further pressures.It is concerned with the shortening of new issue tenors, which will increase the volume of funding that has to be rolled over in 2009. "The funding burden is being increased by Australian banks' rapid asset growth. From a longer-term strategic standpoint the associated market share gains are likely to be positive. However, these benefits have to be balanced against the availability of longer-term funding."It sees global de-leveraging continuing, reducing investor appetite for securitisation and keeping the cost high for a prolonged period.Moody's said the heavy reliance of Australian banks on wholesale funding, especially offshore, was a ratings constraint. "Australian funding profiles are determined by a marked deposit disintermediation trend, recently accelerated by the introduction of a compulsory superannuation scheme, and Australia's persistent current account deficit which is partly financed by the banks."A positive for the banks is that they acted quickly at the start of the crisis to raise liquid assets, which supported ratings stability. The move by the Reserve Bank to widen its repo eligibility was another useful response. But the banks' asset quality buffer has halved. Moody's calculates that impaired assets plus 90 days part due loans as a percentage of capital plus loan loss reserves has increased, in the case of big banks, from four to five per cent since 2005 and, in the case of the regionals, from seven to nine per cent over the same period.