HSBC Premier customers in Canada have always been stuck with a regular Mastercard, but not anymore. They've just introduced a World Mastercard for Premier a couple weeks ago:

https://www.hsbc.ca/1/2/personal/ban...ier-mastercard

The World Mastercard apparently offers better rewards/cashback than the current version, with 2% reward on foreign purchases, 1.5% on gas/groceries/drugstores. The regular card earns 1% on everything.

Other than that it's practically the same card. No idea why the distinction but the relationship manager I spoke with insisted it's an intentional choice to maintain two separate card products.