Nearly nine out of every 10 Kenyans with Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies accounts have deposits of Sh50,000 or less, equal to 89 per cent of the Sacco membership.
Of the estimated 15 million Sacco members in the country this equates to about 13.5 million with less than Sh50,000. In total an estimated 13.8 million are in the range of 100,000 and below
The Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (Sasra) latest disclosure shows that just about one in every 12 Kenyans with SACCO savings has accumulated more than Sh100,000 in deposits.
According to the regulator, regulated SACCOs managed 18.95 million deposit accounts holding Sh832.8 billion as of December 2025.
Of these, 16.88 million accounts held less than Sh50,000, together accounting for just Sh45 billion, or 5.36 percent of the total deposits in the sector.
The data shows that 91.78 percent of all deposit accounts in regulated SACCOs hold balances of Sh100,000 or less, leaving just 8.22 percent with savings exceeding the six-figure mark.
The findings came to the fore during SASRA's submissions to the National Assembly Trade Committee, in support of the proposed amendments to the Sacco Societies Act.
The amendments seek to protect member deposits to a tune of Sh100,000, which the regulator argues that the current deposit guarantee limit would fully protect the overwhelming majority of members if a deposit-taking SACCO were to collapse.
"An assessment of deposit balance level of SACCO members indicates that majority of deposit accounts equivalent to 92 per cent operated by members holds account balances of Sh100,000 and below,"said Sasra in its submission.
This, it said, implies that a substantial number of deposit holders lie in the bracket of compensation limit and will be fully covered in the unlikely event of a failure.
According to Sasra, regulated SACCOs held 18.95 million deposit accounts containing Sh832.8 billion as at the end of 2025. However, only about 1.56 million accounts contained more than Sh100,000, while more than 17.4 million accounts were below that threshold.
The largest category consists of accounts with less than Sh50,000, which account for 89.03 per cent of all deposit accounts but represent only 5.36 percent of total deposits, illustrating how millions of members maintain relatively small savings balances.
At the other end of the spectrum, accounts with more than Sh1 million make up just 0.81 percent of all accounts but hold 38.38 percent of total deposits, underscoring the concentration of savings among a small proportion of members.
Sasra says these savings patterns justify maintaining the proposed compensation ceiling of Sh100,000 under the planned Deposit Guarantee Fund.
It argues that international standards recommend deposit insurance schemes should be designed to fully protect the vast majority of depositors rather than the largest deposit balances.
The authority notes that a World Bank-supported study conducted in 2018 and 2019 similarly concluded that a Sh100,000 guarantee would protect about 92 percent of SACCO accounts, aligning Kenya with international principles issued by the International Association of Deposit Insurers.
This comes as Parliament considers amendments aimed at modernising Kenya's SACCO industry through shared technology services, stronger prudential oversight and operationalisation of the long-delayed Deposit Guarantee Fund.
Beyond deposit protection, the Bill seeks to help smaller SACCOs overcome technology constraints that have limited their competitiveness.
Sasra says 80 percent of regulated SACCOs have asset bases below Sh5 billion, making it difficult for them to independently invest in modern digital platforms needed for lending, payments and member services.
To address this, the proposed law introduces a shared services framework under which SACCOs can jointly access technology infrastructure while retaining their individual identities.
The regulator says more than 76 SACCOs have already established a common platform awaiting enactment of the law before operating under formal regulatory oversight.
The Bill also
seeks to establish a central liquidity framework that would allow participating
SACCOs to pool liquidity, improve settlement systems and eventually participate
in the national payment system under Central Bank oversight.
