The business case for trade registries

At The Commonwealth Business Summit in Namibia, MonetaGo CEO Neil Shonhard was interviewed by Trade Treasury Payments (TTP) to discuss the role of digital public infrastructure in derisking trade and unlocking liquidity across the Commonwealth, particularly in Africa.

Courtesy Trade Treasury Payments (TTP)

At the Commonwealth Business Summit in Namibia, Trade Treasury Payments (TTP) spoke with Neil Shonhard, CEO of MonetaGo, to discuss the role of digital public infrastructure in derisking trade and unlocking liquidity across the Commonwealth, particularly in Africa.

Shonhard said, “We build national-level infrastructure that derisks trade and finance transactions. The benefit of that is straightforward since derisking promotes more liquidity, which in turn accelerates economic growth.”

With more than a third of Commonwealth member states located in Africa, the region is central to ongoing trade policy efforts. Shonhard noted that while 80% of businesses across the Commonwealth are MSMEs, in Africa, the proportion is even higher, yet access to finance remains severely constrained by perceived risk.

“If we see exponential growth of SME liquidity in Africa,” he said, “we’ll see a great deal of economic growth across the Commonwealth as a whole.”

That growth, however, will depend on closing structural financing gaps. Trade registries and invoice data infrastructures (known in development circles as “digital public infrastructure”) are one such tool. These systems aggregate transaction-level information to reduce fraud, support transparency, and increase lender confidence.

“Having a tool at the national level that can pool transaction information and do analytics to prevent fraud promotes liquidity by derisking sectors, derisking trade, and derisking the country,” said Shonhard.

The results have already begun to materialise. In India, MonetaGo’s infrastructure has helped enable $50-60 billion in liquidity for micro and small businesses. In Singapore, real-time fraud detection is helping restore lender confidence following a series of high-profile incidents in the commodities sector. And in the GCC, these systems are aligned with national Vision 2030 objectives, particularly around financial inclusion and SME growth.

“In India, 20% more financiers register on platforms like the TReDS each year because they know it’s a much safer liquidity tool,” said Shonhard. “In Singapore, we’ve caught a great deal of fraud. That’s really instilled confidence in the commodity sector after some of the issues it had a few years ago.”

MonetaGo’s approach reflects a shift in how both governments and multilaterals are thinking about trade development, placing national digital infrastructure at the heart of broader financial inclusion goals. Shonhard explained that MonetaGo is now working with stakeholders in Mauritius, South Africa, and across the Commonwealth to expand the model continent-wide.

Looking ahead, success will be measured by the number of system deployments and the impact that they have. “For us, it’s about how much fraud we prevent,” he said. “Because that’s what promotes the liquidity that isn’t there.”

With deployments underway in the GCC, Africa, and Europe, including integration with Oracle’s global trade software, MonetaGo is making digital registries a core instrument of economic enablement.

“We’re working with commodity funds, factors, financial institutions, and governments. It’s the whole ecosystem that benefits,” said Shonhard.

As more countries seek to expand their trade base, the business case for trade registries is becoming clearer. Derisking through transparency builds the confidence needed to lend, trade, and grow.