Membership in Kenya’s regulated Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOs) increased by 6.6 per cent in 2025 to 7.87 million, reflecting growing confidence in the cooperative financial sector.
The SACCO Supervision Annual Report 2025 shows that the membership base increased from 7.39 million in 2024, adding about 488,000 members during the year.
SACCO Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA) said the growth reflected increased confidence and trust in regulated SACCOs as part of Kenya’s domestic financial services sector.
The growth was recorded despite changes in the number of regulated SACCOs during the period.
Deposit-taking SACCOs (DT-SACCOs) accounted for the largest share of the membership, with 7.34 million members in 2025.
This represented a 6.93 per cent increase from 6.87 million members recorded in 2024.
DT-SACCO members accounted for 93.32 per cent of the entire membership of regulated SACCOs, highlighting the segment’s dominant position in the industry.
Non-withdrawable deposit-taking SACCOs (NWDT-SACCOs), meanwhile, had 526,115 members in 2025, up from 514,671 in 2024.
The segment accounted for 6.68 per cent of total regulated SACCO membership.
SASRA attributed the increase in NWDT-SACCO membership partly to the authorisation of three additional NWDT-SACCOs to undertake non-withdrawable deposit-taking SACCO business.
The regulator also linked the growth to sustained member mobilisation efforts by existing NWDT-SACCOs.
Despite the overall increase in membership, the report raised concerns over the number of dormant members.
Active members increased from 5.71 million in 2024 to 5.97 million in 2025.
However, the proportion of active members declined slightly from 77.44 per cent in 2024 to 75.86 per cent in 2025.
At the same time, dormant membership increased to 1.90 million, representing 24.14 per cent of the total SACCO membership.
SASRA said the high proportion of dormant members requires SACCOs to develop strategies to bring inactive members back into active participation.
“The high proportion of dormant members in the Regulated SACCOs industry calls for concerted efforts aimed at re-activating such members, including development and rolling out of suitable financial products and services. It is also imperative that the regulated SACCO societies conduct a survey to determine the root cause of this dormancy,” the report said.
The regulator’s recommendation points to the need for SACCOs to understand why members stop using their accounts and tailor products and services to address their changing financial needs.
The number of regulated SACCOs has also fluctuated in recent years.
The number declined from 359 in 2023 to 355 in 2024 before increasing slightly to 357 in 2025.
Despite the reduction in the number of regulated SACCOs in 2024, the sector recorded its highest membership growth during that period, with the membership base increasing by about 550,000.
Author: Andrew Walyaula
Andrew Walyaula is a seasoned multimedia journalist. Email: [email protected]
