Regulated Savings and Credit Co-operatives (SACCOs) recorded a robust performance in 2024 as total assets crossed the KES 1 trillion mark for the first time, with significant growth across deposits, loans, membership, and capital strength.
Total assets grew by 10.7%, which was the highest increase recorded over the last five years, reaching KES 1.08 trillion, powered by loan growth. Total deposits and savings increased by 9.9% to KES 749.4 billion, up from KES 683 billion in 2023. According to the 2024 Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA) annual report, there was a very high concentration of the industry’s total assets and total deposits in a few regulated SACCOs.
60 large-tiered regulated SACCOs controlled 77% of the industry’s total assets, while 40 large-tiered cooperatives controlled 65.8% of the total deposits, highlighting concerns about the competitiveness and sustainability of smaller SACCOs. This also indicates the SACCO industry is highly concentrated, with a relatively small group of large-tiered cooperatives dominating the market.
The sector’s loan book expanded 11.4% to KES 845 billion from KES 758.6 billion recorded in the previous year, highlighting a stable rate of demand for credit facilities by the cooperative institutions.
The number of deposit-taking SACCOs tallied to 177 from 176 in 2023, following the licensing of one cooperative lender. On the other hand, the number of non-deposit-taking SACCO businesses reduced to 178 from 181 in 2023, due to two lenders failing to renew their licenses and the conversion of one non-deposit-taking cooperative to a deposit-taking cooperative.
The cooperative lenders registered over 637,696 new members last year to reach 7.39 million members. The number of active members edged up 6% to 5.72 million, while dormant members increased to 1.67 million. SASRA noted that the new members joined in the period when 132,321 members exited. The membership growth has helped Saccos mobilize deposits, a major source of funds supporting loans to members.
Financial Stability and Quality
The industry remained well capitalised and credit quality held steady. DT-SACCO’s capitalisation increased to KES 163.3 billion in 2024 from KES 133.8 billion in the previous year. The capital adequacy ratio of core capital to total assets increased to 17.3%, well above the 10% minimum. NWDT-SACCOs recorded a marginal dip in capitalization to KES 14.2 billion in 2024 from KES 14.46 billion in 2023. Performing loans improved to 86.7%, while the NPL ratio fell to 8.4% sector-wide from 8.5%.
SACCOs Digital & Service Expansion
Physical branches increased to 652 from 626 in 2023, while the number of SACCO agents increased to 4,247 from 4,038 in the previous year. The volume of transactions handled by the agents grew by 14.1% to KES 31.65 billion last year. The cooperative lenders’ industry continued to embrace the use of ICT financial services channels. Last year, 93.2% of DT-SACCOs adopted USSD code financial delivery channels compared to 89.7% in 2023.
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