Standard Chartered has recruited Peter Heidinger as global head of financial institutions, based in Singapore.

Heidinger joins the bank from US rival Citigroup, where he served as head of investment finance Asia-Pacific, within the private banking division. He previously led the financial institutions coverage for the region and was part of the insurance and fund management coverage in London.

He started last week. He will be responsible for deepening Standard Chartered's relations with financial and government institutional clients, as well as the execution of client-focused strategies. He reports directly to Sean Wallace, the group head of origination and client coverage.

Standard Chartered has enjoyed a strong start to 2011, according to its interim management statement released in May. Despite continuing threats post-crisis, its consumer banking business managed to see a steady increase in the first few months of the year and its wholesale banking business hit double-digit growth. The bank is scheduled to release another performance update before the end of the month.