The head of Dubai's banking industry association, Abdul Aziz al-Ghurair, said that the United Arab Emirates banking sector is open to strategic mergers in the near term, Reuters reported Dec. 15, citing the Al bayan newspaper.

At the same time, Ghurair reportedly did not rule out a new banking merger in Dubai. Ghurair is also CEO of Mashreqbank PSC.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi PJSC and First Gulf Bank PJSC are in a deal to merge, which is slated to complete in the first quarter of 2017 and create an institution with combined assets of roughly $175 billion.