The number of Sacco accounts with deposits of over Sh1 million grew by 10 percent to 154,000 last year amid incessant inequality that has seen a majority of savers maintain less than Sh50,000.
Data from the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (Sasra) shows the number of accounts in the high-value category rose from 140,000 in 2024, extending an increase from 98,000 in 2023 and 50,000 in 2019.
The Sh1 million and above accounts made up just 0.81 percent of the 18.95 million accounts but held Sh319.66 billion or 38.38 percent of the Sh832.8 billion deposits in Saccos under Sasra supervision.
Over the same period, 89.03 percent of the sector accounts or 16.86 million held less than Sh50,000 amounting to Sh44.61 billion, equivalent to 5.36 percent of total deposits. The number of such accounts grew 17.9 percent from 14.3 million in 2024.
The disparity in deposits means the majority of Sacco members can qualify for loans of up to Sh200,000, given that loans are typically advanced using a multiplier model of three to four times a member’s savings.
Sasra data shows the number of loan accounts rose by 21.9 percent to 4.17 million last year from 3.42 million in the preceding year, pointing to sustained demand for loans.
Saccos have increasingly become a key source of household and business credit, offering lower lending rates than banks and more flexible borrowing terms, with members able to use their savings and those of colleagues as collateral.
Concentration of large deposits among fewer members means the majority of savers with small balances have less room to leverage their deposits for larger loans, limiting their ability to use Sacco credit for housing, education, agriculture or business expansion.
The number of accounts holding between Sh100 and Sh300,000 grew the fastest at 23.5 percent to 761,000, taking the amount held in these accounts to Sh134.35 billion from Sh108.91 billion.
Accounts with between Sh50,000 and Sh100,000 rose by 19 percent to 526,000, with the value rising by 16.5 percent to Sh35.64 billion. Those with between Sh300,000 and Sh1 million grew by 15.1 percent to 638,000, taking their holding to Sh298.55 billion from Sh284.79 billion.
Saccos offered an average of 10 percent as dividend rate on share capital and 6.72 percent interest on deposits compared to banks’ 3.64 percent interest on deposits last year.
“Given that the total membership of the regulated Sacco industry stood at 7.87 million in 2025 [compared with 18.95 million accounts], the analysis implies that on average a member may be operating two or more deposit accounts with their Saccos,” said Sasra.
“This is consistent with the Sacco tradition where a member maintains a non-withdrawable deposit account while at the same time operating a withdrawable deposit account especially for DT-saccos.”
Members’ deposits and savings increased to Sh832.74 billion last year from Sh749.43 billion recorded in the previous year as gross loans and advances grew to Sh948.67 billion from Sh845.11 billion. This widened the gap between deposits and loans to Sh115.93 billion from Sh95.68 billion.
The regulator reported that Saccos disbursed Sh596.54 billion in loans to eight key economic sectors during the year. Land and housing received Sh157.2 billion, followed by education at Sh124.51 billion and agriculture at Sh110.74 billion.
Central Bank of Kenya data show that bank accounts holding more than Sh500,000 increased 5.7 percent to 781,977 last year, representing 0.97 percent of the banking sector’s 80.68 million accounts.
The Saccos regulator is pushing to support the sector growth through regulatory reforms such as the introduction of a Deposit Guarantee Fund (DGF) to protect savers from losses on their deposits and strengthening supervision.
Kenya’s Sacco Societies Act, passed in 2008, provides for setting up a deposit insurance fund for credit unions, but the scheme has never been established to date. Sasra started operations in June 2010.
Section 55 of the Sacco Societies Act sets the premise for the establishment of a DGF for the Sacco sector to provide protection for members’ deposits of up to Sh100,000, excluding shares, in the event that a Society collapses as a result of liquidity challenges or governance.
Sasra sees DGF, which is a form of deposit-insurance scheme, as a key pillar which will further encourage the savings culture within the sacco system, by boosting confidence and trust among savers.
Underwriting Sacco deposits will see credit unions join the league of banks and insurance firms, which have schemes to compensate depositors and policyholders in the event of a financial institutions’ collapse.
Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation compensates savers in banks and deposit-taking micro-financiers up to Sh500,000 immediately after a bank collapses, with the rest is dependent on what is recovered later on.
The Policyholders Compensation Fund reimburses Sh250,000 per policyholder in the event an insurance company is declared insolvent.
The State is seeking to introduce deposit protection for saccos through the Sacco Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which proposes to effect the DGF, alongside establishing a Central Liquidity and Shared Services business.
The proposed protection comes against a backdrop of concerns over members’ ability to access their savings when individual Saccos face liquidity problems. Sasra received 886 complaints and enquiries in 2025, with claims for refunds of savings and deposits or share transfers accounting for 425 cases, or 47.97 percent of all complaints.
“Once implemented, these reforms are expected to enhance depositor protection, improve operational efficiency, enhance service delivery and strengthen the overall stability of the industry,” says Sasra.
