Bank Dhofar SAOG (MSM:BKDB) has appointed HSBC Holdings plc (LSE:HSBA) and National Bank of Oman SAOG (MSM:NBOB) (NBO) has appointed UBS Group AG (SWX:UBSG) as Financial advisors to help with their talks to merge and create a bank with about $20 billion (Dh 73.5 billion) in assets, said people aware of the matter asking not to be identified because the matter is private. The appointments were made last week and it's likely that any deal could be mostly in stock, the people said. No final decisions have been made and the talks may not lead to an agreement, the people said.