Yeah what a pain the a@@ that is!!
I went to Europe in February and couldn't access my bank account, had to live off the credit card for everything. Very annoying to say the least!
However, there is a way around this. You can link your savings account to your Visa card together with a pin. This will then enable you to access your savings through any Plus ATM, just like the old days
Bottom line is that, if something makes sense and makes your life easy, then HSBC will say CANNOT-LA!