If a bank allows someone to open up a bank account with personal details that don't really belong to them, I'd call that fraud and a failure on the banks side.

If a bank allows someone to open up a bank account with personal details that don't really belong to them, I'd call that fraud and a failure on the banks side. "Stealing someone's identity" sounds like I could and should have been able to prevent that, rather than putting the blame on the bank who accepted false personal details in the first place. As I said, those details, including address and more, are public in some countries. Those countries have learned to live that just being able to say my name, date of birth, address and telephone number is not enough to open a bank account, why can other "modern" countries not adjust accordingly too?