The number of Kenyans invested in unit trusts or collective investment schemes crossed the three million mark in December 2025,highlighting the continued interest in pooled funds among investors.
New data from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) shows investors in the schemes more than doubled from 1.4 million a year prior in December 2024.
Kenyans invested in unit trusts have been on a steady rise in recent years, rising from just one million in December 2023.
Last year however marked the steepest climb in the number of collective investment schemes (CISs) investors supported by improved awareness.
“The number of investors in the various CIS funds has continued to grow steadily over time, buoyed by increasing awareness in the market to save and invest especially in the post Covid era,” CMA said in a report.
Unit trusts assets under management (AUM) have followed a similar trajectory, reaching Sh756.2 billion as of December 2025 from Sh389.2 billion a year prior.
This means that the value of investments in the schemes also registered their largest jump in 2025.
The increase in AUM is attributed to the overall growth reported by existing CIS funds and additional funds registered by existing umbrella schemes. It is also due to intensified marketing efforts by the fund managers.
CISs pool money from various investors to purchase a diversified portfolio of securities such as stocks, bonds and money market instruments.
The funds are managed by professional fund managers while investors own units in the trust, and earn returns from generated income including dividend, interest and capital gains.
As of December 31, 2025, the CMA had approved 59 CISs comprising 282 funds. Out of the funds, 40 of them were active.
Sanlam Unit Trust Scheme remained the largest unit trust with an AUM of Sh144.3 billion, handing it a 19.1 percent market share.
Other top unit trust funds included Standard Investment Trust Fund (Sh125.3 billion AUM), CIC Unit Trust Scheme (Sh102 billion), Britam Unit Trust Scheme (Sh53 billion) and NCBA Unit Trust Scheme (Sh52.3 billion).
Treasury bills and bonds remained the most popular asset class for the funds with an allocation of Sh323.6 billion or 42.8 percent of unit trusts AUM.
Commercial bank fixed deposits were the second most popular asset class with a 28.2 percent share or Sh213 billion AUM ahead of cash and demand deposits.
Money market funds which present instruments investing in fixed deposits and Treasury bills remained the most dominant type of fund with an AUM of Sh423.6 billion, handing them a 56 percent market share.
Fixed income funds which invest primarily in Treasury bonds and special funds which take a specific fund manager led investment strategy were a little separated with assets of Sh164.3 billion and Sh162.4 billion respectively.
Equity funds which primarily invest in stocks listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange and balanced funds which target a split of equities and fixed-income securities were the least popular type of funds with assets of Sh3.5 billion and Sh2.1 billion respectively.
Collective investment schemes have continued to register high participation rates and asset growth despite falling interest rates which have tanked the return on investment especially for money-market funds (MMFs).
Annualised returns from most MMF funds have fallen into single digit territory after hitting as much as 19 percent in 2023 and 2024. The highest annualised return on MMFs tracked by this publication stood at 11.23 percent as of March 11 while the lowest was 5.62 percent for shilling denominated MMFs.
