In the card space, Small is confident NAB is in "the top handful" globally and would be seen as best practice.

Unlike credit and debit card fraud, e-fraud, however, is "one of those things".

"The fraudulent activity tends to ebb and flow and it tends to identify any weaker target [and] NAB hasn't had a phishing attack for four months," Small said. "The ebb and flow of activity certainly makes managing resources difficult."

Small said NAB has also invested in a strong second factor authentication service, dubbed SMS Payment Security, to protect its customers against e-fraud which has been "very successful".

"Sometimes it is hard to quantify fraud performance and that you are doing a good job. We have a good handle on it and as long as we compare favourably with our peers and we know we are getting good results for our customers that gives the bank comfort."

Overall, Small rates Australia as still a safe place to bank, and the banks here seem to be more advanced when it comes to fraud prevention.

"Australia does have low levels of fraud and yet have more industry collaboration than other regions with monthly or quarterly forums," he said.

Local financial institutions regularly share intelligence relating to fraud trends and techniques for combating fraud. As an industry, Australian banks believe that by standing together they can ensure overseas syndicates do not see them as an attractive target.

The next thing on NAB's agenda is to look at strengthening a number of areas around customer authentication and login.

"We have reduced losses to a low level and we are always looking for the next capability that will keep us there," Small said.

For example, NAB's SMS two-factor authentication provides an additional level of customer security for online banking and a deterrent to potential fraudsters, according to Small.

ACI Worldwide director of fraud strategy Derren Jones said while the most common fraud type is credit or debit card related, there is an emerging trend in Australia around Internet banking type fraud.

Jones, who was previously head of NAB's transactional identity fraud unit, said local financial institutions are a strong group and not many countries have the same depth of collaboration.

ACI now claims some 40 local PRM users, including BankWest, First Data, ING, Macquarie Bank, Suncorp, Westpac and ANZ.

"Enterprise risk management is paramount in today's banking needs," Jones said. "Banks are focused on siloed channels and without bringing risks together you can't see the overall risks. There is a need to move off siloes to more of an enterprise-wide approach."