Saudi Arabian and United Arab Emirates commercial banks are holding off on doing business with Qatari banks, such as letters of credit, because of the diplomatic rift in the region, Al Arabiya reported.

Banks, which declined to be named, were delaying deals until they received guidance from their central banks on how to handle business with Qatar.

They also said the UAE central bank had asked banks in the country to detail their exposure to Qatari banks, and that the Bahrain central bank had taken a similar step, setting a Thursday deadline to obtain the information.