This is the first service by a foreign bank on mainland China, HSBC said in a statement, to offer mobile tuition payment with currency conversion and transfer to major universities around the world.

The system, named International Education Payment Service, enables customers to convert RMB to US dollar, British pound, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar and Hong Kong dollar using HSBC China app or WeChat banking, without visiting a bank branch.

“Younger consumers are extremely tech-savvy, which drives demand for innovative digital financial services”

The bank has also partnered with major institutions in Australia, UK, UK, Canada and Hong Kong to allow students or their families to transfer tuition fees abroad.

According to China’s Ministry of Education, a total of 608,400 Chinese students have studied abroad in 2017.

Although the country is now increasingly popular as a destination for globally mobile students as well, its role as the major source market for the international education industry doesn’t seem under threat for the foreseeable future.

It’s the mobile student demographic that HSBC is targeting with this and other digital innovations, executive vice president at HSBC China, Richard Li, said in a statement.

“China is the largest source of international students for higher education institutions around the world. With most of them born in the 1990s and 2000s, these younger consumers are extremely tech-savvy, which drives demand for innovative digital financial services, including in areas such as overseas studies,” he said.

“For banks, digital technology not only makes cross-border financial services faster, more convenient and secure, but also helps build closer relationships with these new generations of customers.”

According to a 2017 report conducted by HSBC, The Value of Education, over half of Chinese parents would consider a university education abroad for their child, with education being the top financial commitment for almost half of the families surveyed.