Major shareholders in Kuwait's Gulf Bank are exploring the option of a merger with an unidentified lender in the United Arab Emirates, daily Al Watan said in an unsourced report on Sunday.

Gulf Bank's large shareholders were initially interested in the possibility of a merger with the lender, the paper said.

'Details of this (interest) are expected to be unveiled in the next few days,' Watan said.

Gulf Bank is Kuwait's third-largest bank by market value.-Reuters