Time flies with great content! Renew in to keep enjoying all our premium content.
Prime
Saccos recruit 637,696 members as deposits hit Sh749 billion
Nation DT Sacco exhibition tents during the 103rd Ushirika Day celebrations at Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), Nairobi on July 12, 2025.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group
Regulated Saccos recruited over 637,696 new members last year as deposits crossed the Sh700 billion mark, pointing to the sustained interest of Kenyans in co-operatives.
Latest industry data shows the 177 deposit-taking (DT) Saccos and 178 non-withdrawable deposit-taking (NWDT) Saccos under Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (Sasra) supervision, saw their membership rise by 26.3 percent from 504,915 in 2023.
The 2024 Sacco supervision annual report shows the new members joined in the period when 132,321 exited, meaning that for each departing member, the industry was recruiting nearly five new members. In the prior year, 131,347 had exited.
Sasra notes that although member exits through withdrawal from membership is a right under the open and voluntary membership cooperative principle, it is always important for Saccos to ensure new entrants are more to ensure stability.
“It is important that regulated Saccoss devise ways and means of member retention as much as possible, and that at any time, any exit is matched with new recruits of the same or higher proportion,” said Sasra.
The sustained growth in membership has helped Saccos in mobilising deposits, which is a key source of funds supporting loans to members.
Sasra data shows deposits grew by 9.86 percent to reach Sh749.43 billion last year from Sh682.95 billion in 2023, helping Saccos to finance loans worth Sh845.11 billion.
Last year’s loan book marked an 11.4 percent rise from Sh758.57 billion in 2023. The loan book expansion helped the Sasra-regulated Saccos assets to hit Sh1.076 trillion —the first time they crossed the one trillion mark.
Saccos aspire to have over 90 percent of their loans and advances portfolio to be financed principally by deposits. This is because their model is that of mobilising deposits for onward lending to members, mostly up to three times their deposits.
According to Sasra, 18 DT Saccos grew membership at an average rate of above 20 percent, bringing in 165,733 new members. Another 44 DT-Saccos recorded growth rates of between 10 and 20 percent, recruiting 239,005 new members. The remaining 84 DT-Saccos expanded their membership at a more modest rate of between 0.01 and 10 percent, adding 190,499 new members.
At the same time, 134 NWDT Saccos recorded positive growth rates in membership with a total of 42,459 new members being recruited.
The regulator noted that the surge reflects continued confidence in the Sacco model, which has traditionally offered members lower borrowing rates compared to commercial banks, alongside attractive returns on savings.
Sasra however noted that 31 DT Saccos registered drops in membership, with 64,571 members being shed-off without replacement in 2024. This was however an improvement from 31 that lost 128,337 members without replacement in the previous year.
The regulator said this showed that more efforts were made towards member retention in 2024 resulting in comparatively fewer exits.
Among the NWDT Saccos, 44 lost 3,984 members without replacement. This was an increase from the 47 NWDT Saccos that lost 3,010 members in 2023.
