The SACCO Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA), has commenced stakeholders’ consultations on a proposed levy on the deposits of specified Non-Withdrawable Deposit Taking (NWDT) SACCOs to fund its expanded functions.
According to the recently published draft SACCO Societies (specified Non-Deposit-Taking businesses) Levy Order, the regulator seeks to charge a levy of 0.165 per cent on the total non-withdrawable deposits of the targeted SACCOs.
Speaking during the first stakeholders’ consultation forum in Nairobi, the Cooperatives Commissioner David Obonyo said the non-withdrawable deposit-taking SACCOs should pay their respective share of contribution to the supervisory and regulatory oversight of the authority.’’
Obonyo disclosed the imposed levy is in tandem with the government’s effort of safeguarding the stability of the financial system in Kenya through effective supervision of the SACCO sector.
If approved, the levy will see SASRA net at least Sh 137.98 million from 169 non-withdrawable deposit-taking SACCOs.
“We have done a detailed appraisal of the potential impact of the proposed levy order on the SACCOs and their members and a cost-benefit analysis. We encourage all the key stakeholders to share their feedback and opinions on the proposed Levy Order to enable us to move to the next step,” said SASRA CEO Peter Njuguna.
The Authority has, however, restricted the levy at a maximum of Sh8 million, meaning that such SACCOs holding more than Sh4.84 billion will be spared the expense.
Peter Njuguna further revealed that since the establishment of the Authority in June 2010, the Authority has been funding its supervisory and regulatory oversight activities over the DT-SACCOs, principally from deposit levies paid by the DT-SACCOs pursuant to the Sacco Societies (Deposit-Levy) Order, 2011 (Legal Notice No. 188 of 2011 and Legal Notice No. 51 of 2018).
He however noted that the annual levies collected from the DT-SACCOs have been insufficient to fund the operations of the authority, forcing it to operate below its optimal levels.
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