SACCO assets hit Ksh1.21T as membership reaches 7.8 million; CS Oparanya

Co-operatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya has said Kenya’s regulated Savings and Credit Cooperative (SACCO) sector has continued to expand, with its asset base reaching Ksh1.21 trillion and membership rising to 7.875 million.

Speaking in a post shared on his account on Monday, September 28, 2026, Oparanya said he had officially launched the SACCO Supervision Annual Report 2025 in Nairobi.

“The report shows a resilient sector serving 7.875 million members,” Oparanya said.

He added that regulated SACCO assets had grown to Ksh1.210 trillion, while deposits stood at Ksh832 billion and loans advanced to members reached Ksh949 billion.

The latest figures highlight the central role of lending in the SACCO sector, with loans to members accounting for a substantial share of the Ksh1.21 trillion asset base.

The figures also come against the backdrop of clarification from SACCO leaders that the sector’s Ksh1.2 trillion in assets should not be interpreted as cash sitting idle in bank accounts.

In July, STIMA DT SACCO Chief Executive Officer Gamaliel Hassan said approximately Ksh950 billion of the sector’s assets had already been advanced to members through loans.

“We are not sitting on a cash pile of Ksh1.2 trillion to be given out. Most of those resources have already been lent to members,” Hassan said.

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According to Oparanya’s figures, regulated SACCO deposits stood at Ksh832 billion, underscoring the scale of savings mobilised through the cooperative movement.

Hassan had previously explained that deposits are primarily mobilised to provide affordable credit to members rather than remain as idle cash.

He said about 78 per cent of the sector’s asset base consisted of loans issued to members.

“For us, having a loan portfolio of about 78 per cent means we are doing exactly what SACCOs were created to do collect members’ savings and lend them back to members at affordable rates,” Hassan said.

Oparanya said the SACCO sector was serving 7.875 million members, reflecting its continued importance in Kenya’s financial system.

The latest report comes amid ongoing discussions about the role of SACCOs in Kenya’s economic development and the protection of members’ savings.

Government officials have previously maintained that SACCO funds remain the property of individual members and are managed by the respective SACCOs through their elected officials.

The latest report therefore provides an updated picture of a sector whose assets, deposits and member lending continue to grow.

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