Gideon Kipyakwai the CEO of Metropol addressing participants/HANDOUT
For decades, Kenya's SACCOs have thrived on trust, lending to members they know by name, family and reputation.
However, industry players are now warning that personal relationships alone are no longer enough in an era where borrowers can hold multiple loans across banks, digital lenders and other SACCOs without their knowledge.
That concern took centre stage at the Credit Community Workshop for the Coast and Nairobi Region in Mombasa, where Metropol Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) urged financial institutions to embrace data-driven lending to avoid exposing themselves to hidden credit risks.
Speaking during the workshop at Travellers Beach Hotel, Metropol CRB Chief Executive Officer Gideon Kipyakwai said many SACCOs have an excellent understanding of a member's repayment history within their own institutions but lack visibility into debts held elsewhere.
"A SACCO official in Mombasa can tell you exactly how a member has behaved for fifteen years—that's real, valuable knowledge. What the data shows us is that this same member may already be carrying debt the SACCO has no way of seeing. That's not a failure of the SACCO. It's a gap in the information available to it, and it's a gap we can close," said Kipyakwai.
He said integrating credit reference data into lending decisions would enable SACCOs to combine years of trust with a borrower's complete financial profile, resulting in faster and more informed credit decisions.
The warning comes as Kenya's SACCO sector continues to expand rapidly. According to the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA), the sector surpassed Sh1 trillion in total assets for the first time in 2024, while gross loans rose by 11.4 per cent to Sh845 billion.
Despite the impressive growth, the sector remains highly concentrated. Of the 176 deposit-taking SACCOs licensed in 2026, just 60 large-tier SACCOs control 77 per cent of the sector's assets, leaving many smaller institutions with fewer resources and limited access to comprehensive credit information.
The three-day workshop, running from July 7 to 9 under the theme "Integrating CRB Insights for Smarter, Faster Digital Credit Decisions," has brought together SACCOs, banks, microfinance banks, digital credit providers and regulators from the Coast and Nairobi regions.
Discussions have focused on behavioural scoring, sector-specific scorecards and the use of digital footprints to strengthen lending decisions, culminating in a panel discussion on "The Future SACCO: Digital, Data-Driven & Customer-Centric."
Participants noted that despite the rapid growth of Kenya's 227 Central Bank of Kenya-licensed digital credit providers, SACCOs remain the primary source of credit for many Coast residents, including civil servants, port and logistics workers, traders and small business owners.
For borrowers such as fish traders in Likoni and matatu operators in Kilifi, participants said access to complete credit information could mean the difference between securing a loan within a day or facing delays—or even rejection—because of incomplete data.
The workshop is part of ongoing efforts by Metropol CRB and industry stakeholders to promote responsible, data-driven lending practices and strengthen credit decision-making across Kenya.
