While we await the Sasra report on the SACCO subsector performance for 2013, World Council of Credit Unions (WCCU)has released a report highlighting the following on Sacco performance in Kenya for 2013

- 5000 Credit unions
- 4,722,127 members in these unions
- This is 19.02% of Kenya's Population
- $2,659,761,058 in Savings and shares
- $3,732,814,994 on Loans advanced
- $323,646,493 on reserves
- $4,466,313,096 in assets

For 2012, the stats are as below:
- 5000 Credit unions
- 4,722,126 members in these unions
- This is 19.53% of Kenya's Population
- $2,972,704,029 in Savings and shares
- $3,397,826,904 on Loans advanced
- $273,998,961 on reserves
- $4,180,986,255 in assets

There seems to be a slight decline on the cooperative movement in KE

The last report came in November last year. So hopefully this year, they would release it earlier. However, it is worth nothing that what the world council has are Saccos which are under the KUSCO umbrella. While there are 5,000 registered SACCOs the number of all Cooperatives number about 16,000

As a new twist, there are 30 Saccos who have failed to meet SASRA regulations and will now not be allowed to Offer Front Office Services (FOSA). A review by the AG, to give these saccos more time failed because the AG, thought denying them licence would not destabilise the sector. This now means that there are only 185 Saccos that are allowed to carry out FOSA operations.

http://www.businessdailyafrica....96/-/uuhf7d/-/index.html30 SACCOs to close FOSA offices

Now, Mwalimu Sacco has set its eyes on acquiring a small bank.Talks are in place for the SACCO to acquire a majority stake in a financial institution, whose majority owner is a local business tycoon.

This is the largest SACCO in Kenya as measured by Assets, with assets worth Kshs 24.54 billion as at December 2013.

Read this daily nation story

The issue of the Ministry of Industrialization and Enterprise Development raising issues of corporate governance on Equitorial Commercial Bank seems to be strange, as the bank is supervised by Central Bank of Kenya.

Otherwise the issue of seeking regulatory approval from both the Ministry and SASRA should have been done by Mwalimu.

Could anyone know who the transactional advisers for this deal are?

See a comparison of the financials of Mwalimu SACCO and Equatorial Bank here

See also Business daily article on the reason behind Merali's divestiture from the bank

Typical Merali move. You'd hope Mwalimu has some savvy investors who will adjust their buying price accordingly.

Equatorial Commercial Bank (ECB) has transferred its prime office complex to Fidelity Shield Insurance as it prepares to sell a 51 per cent stake to Mwalimu Sacco.
http://www.businessdaily...0/-/b6ikwk/-/index.html[/quote]

Equatorial Commercial Bank (ECB) has transferred its prime office complex to Fidelity Shield Insurance as it prepares to sell a 51 per cent stake to Mwalimu Sacco.
http://www.businessdaily...0/-/b6ikwk/-/index.html[/quote
SASRA has given in...the merali empire continues
www.businessdailyafrica....0/-/2getigz/-/index.html