The membership of regulated saccos increased last year to 6.84 million from 6.42 million members reported in 2022, despite a drop in the number of regulated saccos during the period.
- •According to the annual Sacco Supervision report by the SACCO Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA) , the number of SACCOs it regulates dropped from 359 in 2022 to 357 in 2023.
- •The drop was after the de-registration of M/S Jacaranda SACCO Society Ltd and M/S Kenya Midlands SACCO Society Ltd for failure to maintain the minimum requirements for licensing.
- •Gross loans grew by a rate of 11.50 per cent in 2023, a marginal decline from 11.76 per cent recorded in 2022.
Cumulative total gross loans increased in absolute amounts to Kshs.758.57 billion in 2023 from Kshs.680.35 billion recorded in 2022.
“It is noteworthy that during the period, the number of regulated SACCOs dropped, implying that the total membership grew despite the reduction in the number of Regulated SACCOs, thus fortifying the hypothesis that membership of troubled SACCOs whose licenses often end up being revoked, are usually taken over by other regulated SACCOs with stronger balance sheets,” Peter Njuguna, Chief Executive Officer of SASRA said.
Total assets grew by 9.17 per cent, a slight drop from the growth rate of 10.31 per cent recorded in 2022, with the cumulative total assets increasing from Kshs 890.30 billion in 2022 to Kshs 971.96 billion in 2023.
On the other hand, the cumulative total deposits for grew by 9.95 per cent, which is a slight increase from a growth rate of 9.84 per cent reported in 2022, while cumulative total deposits increased in absolute amounts from Kshs 620.45 billion in 2022 to Kshs 682.19 billion in 2023.
“It is therefore observable that Regulated SACCOs grew their deposits at a faster rate than the rate at which they grew their assets, which is a sign of elevated and continued member confidence and trust in the SACCO industry,” Njuguna added.
Market Share and Loan Portfolio
The large-tiered Regulated SACCOs with assets above Kshs 5 billion increased from 47-Regulated SACCOs in 2022 to 53-Regulated SACCOs in 2023, while their proportionate total assets market share increased from 70.05 per cent in 2022 to 73.34 per cent in 2023.
According to Njuguna, this means that the remaining 304 entities with assets of below KShs. 5 billion had only 26.66 per cent of the total assets’ market share, implying that on average, these SACCOs have a small asset portfolio thereby bringing into question their sustainability.
In aggregate 86.33 per cent of the total loan portfolio were performing in accordance with the contractual agreements and shows that a large proportion of loans are being repaid. However, the non-performing loans ratio comprising of loan accounts classified as substandard, doubtful and loss, marginally deteriorated to 8.45 per cent in 2023 compared to a ratio of 8.34 per cent in 2022.
The marginal increase of the NPL ratio to 8.45 per cent in 2023 was largely contributed to by the NPL ratio which equally increased from 8.40 per cent in 2022 to 8.66 per cent in 2023, while that of regulated Non withdrawable deposit taking-SACCOs improved from an average ratio of 7.99 per cent in 2022 to 7.12 per cent in 2023.