I told her I'm from Vancouver. She said that's not what she meant, so I assumed she was asking whether my background was Iranian to make conversation (this was the branch in North Vancouver, which has a large Iranian-Canadian population, so I thought she was going to make a remark about Iranian-Canadian clients that she knows).
I told her my background is Iranian. She said that anyone of Iranian background would need to get special approval to open a Euro denominated account with HSBC Canada due to US sanctions.
I explained to her that I'm a Canadian citizen, that I moved to Canada when I was three years old, and that I don't have Iranian citizenship or any connections to Iran.
She said it doesn't matter, and that even if only my parents were born in Iran, or I had extended family living in Iran, I was considered to be a person with "connections to Iran", and thus needing special approval to get an account.
A week later the bank representative called me and told me that my request to open an account was rejected.