New HSBC ad campaign (primarily, HSBC Advance) | HSBC | Discussion forum

Video URL: https://www.facebook.com/HSBCCanada/videos/332508857409986/

I thought I'd share this short (30 seconds or less) Facebook video from HSBC Bank Canada's latest advertising campaign promoting, principally, HSBC Advance and the fact that the wealth-based banking proposition doesn't require you to hold your minimum monthly balance in a chequing account (only CIBC's Smart Plus Account allows anything close to this, and the minimum threshold is $100,000, which is the same as HSBC Premier).

Pros to HSBC Advance:
- Only $5,000 deposit or investment balance to qualify;
- Free and unlimited supply of HSBC Advance-branded cheques;
- Free and unlimited Interac e-Transfers;
- Free and instantaneous Global Transfer functionality to your HSBC accounts in other countries (if any);
- Global trading, Morningstar and S&P Capital IQ equity research reports with HSBC InvestDirect;
- Discounted HSBC international account opening (half the International Banking Centre fee); and,
- Surcharge-free Exchange and HSBC global ATM network.

Cons to HSBC Advance:
- No self-to-self, bank-to-bank transfers, although this is mitigated somewhat by free and unlimited cheque writing privileges and Interac e-Transfers; and,
- More stringent anti-money laundering and fraud risk monitoring of your accounts, through HSBC Safeguard, which could cause them to "exit" you even if you've done nothing wrong.

Nonetheless, while this ad is kind of cheezy, it's pretty clever and actually one of their better ad campaigns. Their current Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management is former CIBC District Vice President for Southwestern Ontario Larry Tomei, so perhaps his influence is clearing showing through as he seeks to rebuild HSBC's reputational hits in recent years from high-profile branch closures, U.S. money laundering scandal(s), other scandals, and business and client exits.

Cheers,
Doug