The mid-term outlook for retail and private banking in central and eastern Europe is positive and the market segment has stabilised, the chief executive of the Czech unit of Erste Bank Group was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying.

"We see a positive outlook [throughout] countries in the region and we expect higher growth [rates] going forward," Gernot Mittendorfer, chief executive of Erste unit Ceska Sporitelna and member of the group's board of directors, said at a financial conference.

Speaking of Erste's outlook on private banking services in the region, he said such products are appropriate only in more mature economies and that it's too early to roll out everywhere.

"But in coming years we see double-digit growth" in central European private banking, allowing the bank to expand on its strong retail banking presence in the region, he said.