National Bank of Abu Dhabi is keen to help fill a US$260 billion funding gap for small and medium-sized enterprises in the Middle East even as many banks step back from the risky business of funding them, said its chief executive Alex Thursby. But Mr Thursby also expressed concern that governments, in their efforts to introduce more regulations to avoid a repeat of the 2008 fin­ancial crash, have erected too many barriers to wealth creation. “Policymakers in the financial industry as a whole must nurture the entrepreneurism of our small to medium-sized businesses,” he said yesterday at a financial conference organised by the bank in Abu Dhabi.