This is one of the most common points of confusion we meet, and it is worth settling early. When a savings and credit co-operative society joins an alliance, that alliance does not become its supervisor. Regulation and representation are two different jobs, done by two different kinds of body, and it helps everyone to keep them apart.
Regulation
In Kenya, savings and credit co-operative societies that take deposits are licensed and supervised by the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority, usually shortened to SASRA. That authority sets prudential standards, licenses societies to operate, receives their returns, and takes action where a society falls short. Its requirements are legal obligations, not advice. You can read its published requirements on the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority website.
If a member of the public wants to know whether a particular society is licensed, the regulator’s register is the place to check. No alliance, federation or umbrella body can answer that question on the regulator’s behalf.
Representation
ASCA does something different. It is a membership alliance and an advocacy body. It exists to put the case of agricultural and community-based savings and credit co-operative societies to the people whose decisions affect them, to help member societies share what works, to organise training, and to support research and innovation across the movement.
Those are real functions, but none of them is supervision. ASCA does not license societies. It does not inspect them. It does not set prudential standards, and it cannot sanction a society for breaching them.
Why the distinction matters in practice
It matters for three reasons.
It protects members of the public, who need to know exactly which body stands behind a licensed society and where to take a complaint that concerns supervision.
It protects member societies, because an advocacy body that also claimed supervisory authority would be conflicted the moment it needed to argue on a member’s behalf.
And it keeps the alliance honest about what membership offers. Belonging to ASCA is not a badge of regulatory approval, and it should never be presented as one. A society’s standing with its regulator is a matter between that society and the regulator.
The short version
Member societies are regulated by the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority. ASCA is a member alliance and advocacy body, not a regulator. If your question is about licensing, prudential standards or supervision, it belongs with the authority. If your question is about training, representation, shared practice or the wider interests of agricultural societies, it belongs with us.
