Banks see an opportunity in overseas education boom

The growing population of Chinese students overseas means opportunities for financial institutions to serve this client group.

There were 413,900 Chinese students attending overseas schools last year, up 3.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Education. But it was the first time in five years that the growth rate fell into the single-digit range.

Standard Chartered Bank offers services for Chinese students preparing to study abroad. "Our services fall into three parts based on the different stages of the overseas study plan: before, during and after," said Wei Jia, regional alliance manager for northern China of Standard Chartered Bank.