Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is unlikely to take up the option of a three-year extension to his term at the central bank, and may announce his decision as soon as Thursday, a British newspaper reported on Saturday.

Carney has said publicly that he will decide before the end of the year whether to stay beyond the five-year term he committed to when he joined the BoE in July 2013, and is due to hold a quarterly news conference on Thursday.

"Senior City figures who know the governor said they believed it was more likely than not that he would choose to return to Canada in 2018, adding that his family's feelings were a concern," the Times newspaper reported.