Our honourable members, we hope that you have all been well amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic that has devastated the world. We are now seven (7) months into the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected many of our members and our operations. The pandemic seems to have further weakened our members borrowing capacity which plays a major role in our core business as our members access to affordable credit is an important issue to us as we endeavour to fulfill our financial obligations. It is also unfortunate that the pandemic has also robbed us of some of our members and we take this opportunity to express our sincere condolences to their families
During this period, we have come up with a raft of measures to ensure that we continue serving our members while at the same time ensuring that the operations of the Society remains minimally interrupted. At Kanisa SACCO, we continue listening to our members and addressing their concerns on a case by case basis to provide the much-needed continuity during and beyond these extraordinary times. As the pandemic continues to cause serious challenges to the economy, we have also been closely monitoring the developments in the industry and have reviewed our credit terms in the last seven (7) month. We have developed various options meant to cushion the Society and our members savings against the financial difficulties presented by COVID-19 which we have regularly been sharing with our members. We continue encouraging our members to borrow wisely especially during this COVID – 19 Pandemic. For those with existing loans, we encourage you to talk to us to discuss various options that may suit your needs and help in lightening the monthly burden of repaying your loans. Some of these options may include but are not limited to options such as consolidating all your loans, restructuring all your loans, repayment proposal from you by engaging us to customize a repayment plan that suits your needs etc.
We also take this opportunity to update you on the recent changes that have taken place in the SACCO industry and the impact that these changes pose to Kanisa SACCO. On 5th May 2020, the Kenyan Government gazetted the “THE SACCO SOCIETIES (NON-DEPOSIT-TAKING BUSINESS) REGULATIONS, 2020”. The purpose of these regulations are two fold namely to specify the non-deposit taking business to which the SACCO Society Acts apply and to prescribe measures for the conduct of the specified non deposit taking business by SACCO Societies. These regulations seek to operationalise prudential regulation and supervision of specified non deposit taking SACCOs as envisaged in the SACCO Act with the objective to enhance savings mobilisation, protections of SACCO’s member’s deposits, and financial stability within the SACCO subsector. They also stipulate the financial, governance, and operational standards expected of the specified non deposit taking business.
While we acknowledge that these regulations are going to streamline the operations of the specified non deposit taking SACCOs in which category Kanisa SACCO falls in, we realise that they will have an impact on how we operate and relate with our members. Once the commencement date is gazetted, our Society will be regulated by the SACCO Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA) and will be expected to comply with these regulations moving forward.
In order to keep our up to date with the new developments in the SACCO industry, we held our education day virtually on 12th September 2020 to educate, inform and prepare our members and you can access the link to the recording via https://web.facebook.com/KanisaSACCO/videos/3514049221949498 some of the key areas of compliance that we will be requiring our members cooperation and support are in terms of liquidity management, credit risk management, financial performance reporting and capital adequacy, where we are expected amongst other things to:
- Liquidity Management: – at least once in every quarter, submit a liquidity statement return to the Authority and ensure that the SACCO maintains sufficient cash and liquid assets to satisfy demands for loans and non-withdrawable deposits and other day to day operational expenses. Liquidity is an important indicator of the financial stability in a SACCO Society since it shows the ability to meet obligations as they fall due.
- Credit Risk Management: – to make quarterly returns on loans outstanding in our books by sub sectors we have lend monies.
- Financial Performance Reporting: – make returns quarterly and via an electronic platform so as to enhance efficiency and monitoring.
- Capital Adequacy requirements: – make quarterly returns of the Society’s capital adequacy ratios which should be as per set requirements.
Therefore, arising from the above, we will be expecting all our members to promptly fulfil their obligations to the Society when they fall due to enable us update our records monthly, adhere and comply with all these regulations, failure to which we will be liable to pay to the Authority punitive financial penalties which will severely affect all of us.
We are taking the right steps towards compliance and we have come up with strategies that will enable us professionally manage the society and deliver efficient and effectively serve our members. We encourage you to continuously visit our website (www.kanisa-sacco.org) for updates.
Ann Kioi
Chairperson, Kanisa SACCO Society Limited