Tausi Insider

There’s an HSBC Canada branch across the street from the building where Tausi Insider’s Ottawa bureau is located. Working in the bureau, I used to stop into the branch now and then to use the bank machine there. I wasn’t an HSBC client, but the bank was part of an ATM network I had access to a few years back at no cost. That’s as close as I ever came to dealing with HSBC, but I will still miss the bank’s quietly important role in Canadian banking. Earlier this week, Royal Bank of Canada launched a $13.5-billion offer to buy HSBC Bank Canada. Our mortgage specialist, Robert McLister, has already detailed how HSBC helped keep the mortgage market competitive. “For six years, HSBC has advertised rates that are commonly 20 basis points or more below the so-called ‘special offer’ rates promoted by big banks,” he wrote. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point. HSBC, with just 130 locations in Canada, offers a uniquely global perspective in its client services. On its website, y...

Rob Carrick is on holidays so this week’s newsletters will be written by Globe and Mail personal finance reporter Erica Alini. Ah, the thrill of checking your cell phone bill after a vacation to see if you’ve been dinged with roaming charges! Personally, I rank those surprise fees as the worst part of travelling abroad as a Canadian, right after the high chance that your flight will be delayed or cancelled and your luggage lost along the way. But I write today bearing good news. While there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight to our flying woes, roaming fees may soon be a worry for the past. You can thank e-SIMs for that. The name stands for embedded SIMs, a digital version of the unique identifiers inside our cell phones that are quickly replacing physical SIMs in newer devices . Some phones currently have a physical SIM and an e-SIM that can be associated with a second phone number and different data provider. Others support two active e-SIMs at the same time . You can guess what I’...