At the end of 2025, 7.87 million members had KES 832.74 billion of deposits in the 357 SACCOs that SASRA regulates, about 18 times what Kenya's 14 microfinance banks held. By June 2026 the deposits had reached KES 884.8 billion.
If one of those SACCOs fails, its members cannot count on a fund to pay them out. The Sacco Societies Act creates one, with a ceiling of KES 100,000 a member. The regulator says it has yet to be made operational, and is waiting on a new law.
The Afronomics verdict: Kenya's SACCO members hold KES 885 billion behind a deposit guarantee fund that is written into the Act but, on the regulator's own account, has yet to be made operational; a bank saver has a KES 500,000 safety net, a SACCO saver a KES 100,000 promise on paper.
What happened
FactsSASRA's 2025 annual report, published on 28 September 2026, says 179 deposit-taking (DT) SACCOs and 178 non-withdrawable deposit-taking (NWDT) SACCOs were regulated at the end of 2025: 357 in all. Together they held KES 832.74 billion of members' deposits (DT KES 726.50 billion, NWDT KES 106.24 billion). SASRA's June 2026 quarterly report puts the total at KES 884.83 billion.
FactsThe Sacco Societies Act sets up a Deposit Guarantee Fund. Section 55 reads: "There is hereby established a Fund to be known as the Deposits Guarantee Fund." Section 59 says the Fund protects members' deposits, "but not shares", up to "one hundred thousand shillings in respect of each member", and that a member may claim "upon the society becoming insolvent". Section 60 makes every SACCO a contributor.
FactsSASRA's own report says the Fund has yet to be made operational. Its 2025 report says the Sacco Societies (Amendment) Bill, No. 32 of 2025, "seeks to operationalize the Deposit Guarantee Fund by addressing the existing legal gaps", and that SASRA is ready to implement it "once enacted". It names two gaps in the Act: the "absence of a moratorium to build the fund, thus exposing the government to liability to pay claims immediately it is operationalized", and "ambiguity in the appointment of independent members of the Board of Trustees". So the Bill would add a wait: a moratorium "which allows the fund to make payments only upon accumulation of sufficient money to meet its obligations". The National Assembly's order paper for 1 April 2026 listed the Bill for First Reading.
FactsBanks are different. The Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation says its cover is "Kshs. 500,000 per person in an institution", paid when a bank is placed in liquidation, with "further payments as per recoveries made".
What the numbers show
FactsSASRA's yearly licence lists (the 2026 list ran as Kenya Gazette Notice No. 1146) show who left the regulated list:
| Licence year | DT licensed | Licences restricted | Licences revoked or expired |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 176 | none listed | 2 DT licences listed as revoked (not renewed) |
| 2025 | 178 | none listed | 2 NWDT authorisations expired (no renewal applied for) |
| 2026 | 176 | 5 (3 DT, 2 NWDT): credit only, no new deposits | 1 DT (merged into another SACCO), 1 NWDT (no renewal) |
Source: SASRA lists of licensed and authorised SACCO societies for 2024, 2025 and 2026.
FactsThe Act also lets SASRA place a SACCO under statutory management or "restrict the withdrawal of deposits" (section 51). SASRA's 2025 report records one merger, used "for supporting struggling SACCOs while ensuring continuity of services to members", and the revocations above. The licensing chapter we read records no statutory management in 2025.
AnalysisWho would a guarantee protect? SASRA counts deposit accounts by size. At the end of 2025 there were 18.95 million accounts holding KES 832.80 billion:
| Account balance | Accounts | Share of accounts | Deposits | Share of deposits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under KES 50,000 | 16.88m | 89.0% | KES 44.61bn | 5.4% |
| KES 50,000 to 100,000 | 0.53m | 2.8% | KES 35.64bn | 4.3% |
| KES 100,000 to 300,000 | 0.76m | 4.0% | KES 134.35bn | 16.1% |
| KES 300,000 to 1m | 0.64m | 3.4% | KES 298.55bn | 35.9% |
| Over KES 1m | 0.15m | 0.8% | KES 319.66bn | 38.4% |
Source: SASRA Sacco Supervision Annual Report 2025, Tables 21 and 22. Accounts, not members: SASRA says a member often has two or more.
AnalysisAbout nine accounts in ten hold KES 100,000 or less: 17.40 million of 18.95 million, or 91.8%. They hold KES 80.25 billion, 9.6% of the money. The 0.79 million accounts above KES 300,000 hold KES 618.21 billion, 74.2%. Counted by account, the Act's KES 100,000 ceiling would cover in full about nine accounts in ten, but they hold only a tenth of the money; a ceiling like KDIC's KES 500,000 would reach much further.
AnalysisMembers kept adding. Deposits rose from KES 795.78 billion in June 2025 to KES 884.83 billion in June 2026, KES 89.05 billion more, or 11.2%.
Check your SACCO
FactsEvery SACCO on SASRA's lists, with its licence status for 2026 and the figures SASRA publishes for it, is in the Afronomics registry. Filter to deposit-taking SACCOs or to restricted licences. SASRA's report warns the public against dealing with any entity that calls itself a SACCO but is not on its published lists.
Our verdict
OpinionKenya's SACCO members hold KES 885 billion behind a deposit guarantee fund that is written into the Act but, on the regulator's own account, has yet to be made operational; a bank saver has a KES 500,000 safety net, a SACCO saver a KES 100,000 promise on paper.
SASRA has not been idle. It restricts SACCOs to credit only, revokes licences, and backs mergers to keep struggling SACCOs serving their members. The numbers it publishes are good, and the sector grew 11% in a year.
But supervision is not insurance. The Fund is in the Act but has yet to be switched on; its own regulator speaks of "existing legal gaps", and the fix it backs would make members wait while the Fund fills up. If a large SACCO failed tomorrow, its members would most likely wait on a winding-up under the Co-operative Societies Act, the route SASRA's report sets out for SACCOs that leave its list. A bank depositor would have KDIC's cheque. That difference is a policy choice, and it has lasted long enough.
What would change our mind
The Bill becoming law, a date set for the Fund to start paying claims, and the Fund publishing its size and its first accounts. Or a SASRA statement that the Fund is already collecting contributions and can pay.
Information, not advice.