The Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority has revoked the license of Jacaranda Sacco Society Limited and Kenya Midlands Sacco Society Limited after the two Deposit-Taking Saccos failed to maintain minimum licensing requirements.
This means that out of the 175 DT Saccos licensed to undertake the business at the beginning of 2023, only 173 had valid licenses at the end of 2023.
“Members of the public are therefore warned against undertaking any deposit-taking business with these institutions to avoid losing their investments, “said SASRA Chief Executive Officer Peter Njuguna.
SASRA has also noted a trend in which authorized Non-withdrawable DT-SACCOs are progressively seeking to expand their business lines to include Deposit-taking business (FOSA) by applying for deposit-taking licenses, with a total of six NWDT-SACCOs having already submitted such applications.
Among the six applicants, Njiwa SACCO Society Ltd and Jogoo SACCO Society Ltd were successful and have already been issued with deposit licenses effective 1st January 2024, while the remaining four are at different stages.
Many NonWithdrawable DT-SACCOs with large balance sheets are expanding to FOSA businesses by applying for Deposit-Taking Licenses.
“SASRA thus envisages that a majority of the Nonwithdrawable DT-SACCOs with large balance sheets shall in short to medium-term seek expansion of their businesses to include FOSA thereby diminishing the number of NWDT-SACCOs in the industry unless new ones are authorized, “said SASRA CEO Peter Njuguna.
With regard to authorization of SACCOs to undertake specified non-deposit-taking business, there were a total of 183-NWDT-SACCOs as of 31st December 2023, which is the same as the number of NWDT-SACCOs in operation during a similar period in 2022.
Out of the 183-NWDT-SACCOs, one NWDT-SACCO is authorized as a digital-based Regulated SACCO; three other NWDT-SACCOs are authorized as diaspora-based Regulated SACCOs in accordance with Regulations 2020; while two NWDT-SACCOs have converted their business model to deposit-taking (FOSA) business.
“In this regard, the Authority continues to warn the members of the public against undertaking SACCO business with entities purporting to be digital or diaspora SACCOs unless they are authorized by the Authority,” said Peter Njuguna.
