<p>I think the international thing is one of HSBC’s strengths, you can access your money no matter where you go in the world. In that case, you probably don’t even have to worry about money transfers. I don’t keep any money there, so you may want to verify this.</p>
<p>If I were to pick a bank, I would choose Desjardins. It’s true that they don’t have Guichets on the McGill campus, but they tend to have them everywhere else in Montreal. Combine that with the fact that since they’re still nominally a Credit Union, you get money whenever the make a profit, and I would highly recommend them. </p>
<p>The downside is that they’re not really an international bank (they have a few branches in Florida to help with snowbirds), so transferring money might pose some problems. They also tend, from my experience, to not have as many English-speaking employees as the other banks, with all the issues that is likely to cause.</p>