The number of Sacco accounts with deposits of over Sh1 million grew by 10 percent to 154,000 last year. This represents an increase from 140,000 in 2024 and 98,000 in 2023. According to data from the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (Sasra), these high-value 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.
In contrast, 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. This disparity in deposits means that 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.
The number of loan accounts rose by 21.9 percent to 4.17 million last year from 3.42 million in the preceding year. Saccos have increasingly become a key source of household and business credit, offering lower lending rates than banks and more flexible borrowing terms. Members can use their savings and those of colleagues as collateral. However, concentration of large deposits among fewer members means that the majority of savers with small balances have less room to leverage their deposits for larger loans.
The number of accounts holding between Sh100 and Sh300,000 grew the fastest at 23.5 percent to 761,000. The amount held in these accounts rose 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. Sasra noted that the total membership of the regulated Sacco industry stood at 7.87 million in 2025, implying that on average a member may be operating two or more deposit accounts with their Saccos. This is consistent with the Sacco tradition where a member maintains a non-withdrawable deposit account while operating a withdrawable deposit account.
Members’ deposits and savings increased to Sh832.74 billion last year from Sh749.43 billion recorded in the previous year. 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. Sasra reported that Saccos disbursed Sh596.54 billion in loans to eight key economic sectors during the year, with land and housing receiving Sh157.2 billion, followed by education at Sh124.51 billion and agriculture at Sh110.74 billion.
The Saccos regulator is pushing to support sector growth through regulatory reforms, including the introduction of a Deposit Guarantee Fund (DGF) to protect savers from losses on their deposits. 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.
Key points
- The number of Sacco accounts with deposits over Sh1 million grew by 10 percent to 154,000 last year.
- 89.03 percent of Sacco accounts or 16.86 million held less than Sh50,000.
- Saccos disbursed Sh596.54 billion in loans to eight key economic sectors during the year.
