{"id":466532,"date":"2026-05-25T18:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T18:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/466532\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T18:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T18:18:10","slug":"report-higher-nssf-rates-fuel-fastest-growth-in-kenya-pension-savings-in-a-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/466532\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Higher NSSF rates fuel fastest growth in Kenya pension savings in a decade"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Zamara group Head of Investment Consulting Neha Datta \/HANDOUT<\/p>\n

Kenya\u2019s retirement
\nsavings industry recorded strong growth in 2025, with more workers and
\nemployers putting money into guaranteed pension funds as confidence in
\nlong-term savings improves.<\/p>\n

A new survey by Zamara Group shows
\nthat assets held in Deposit Administration (DA) funds pension savings managed
\nby insurance companies that guarantee minimum returns rose to Sh475.2 billion
\nby the end of 2024, up from Sh399.3 billion in 2023.<\/p>\n

The report also
\nshowed that average returns paid to savers increased to 12.3 per cent in 2025,
\ncompared to 11.4 per cent in 2024 and 8.9 per cent in 2023.<\/p>\n

Deposit
\nAdministration funds are popular with pension schemes because they offer safer
\nand more predictable returns compared to investments that can fluctuate sharply
\nwith stock market movements.<\/p>\n

According to the
\nsurvey, annual contributions into the funds jumped by 34 per cent to Sh88.8
\nbillion in 2024, marking the fastest growth seen in the sector over the past 10
\nyears.<\/p>\n

Zamara Group Head
\nof Investment Consulting, Neha Datta, said the growth reflects shows that more Kenyans
\nare now saving for retirement or other global economic shocks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sustained
\ngrowth in DA funds highlights the increasing importance of guaranteed
\ninvestment solutions within retirement schemes, particularly during periods of
\neconomic and market volatility,\u201d said Datta.<\/p>\n

She noted that
\nmany pension trustees are now prioritising investments that provide stable
\nreturns and protect savers from market losses.<\/p>\n

The report linked
\nthe rise in contributions to higher National Social Security Fund (NSSF)
\ndeductions, improved returns offered by insurers, and new pension tax
\nincentives introduced in late 2024.<\/p>\n

The survey covered
\n17 insurance companies offering Deposit Administration services in Kenya and
\nfound that the industry has remained resilient over the long term.<\/p>\n

Over five years,
\nthe average annual return stood at 10.1 per cent, while the 10-year average
\nreturn was 9.4 percent.<\/p>\n

Group pension
\nschemes made up the largest share of contributions at 54 per cent, followed by
\npersonal pension plans at 24 percent and umbrella schemes at 22 per cent.<\/p>\n

The findings
\nhighlight the growing role of institutional retirement savings in Kenya as more
\nemployers and individuals seek secure ways to build savings for retirement.<\/p>\n

Datta noted that pension
\ntrustees to continue comparing providers carefully, looking beyond high returns
\nto factors such as consistency, governance standards and risk management before
\nchoosing where to invest members\u2019 savings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zamara group Head of Investment Consulting Neha Datta \/HANDOUT Kenya\u2019s retirement savings industry recorded strong growth in 2025,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[72,176,61,60,127212,174,175,9315,24721,22106,160232,122065,22107,127211,22105],"class_list":["post-466532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kenya-news","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-star","tag-star-news","tag-star-news-kenya","tag-star-newspaper","tag-star-newspaper-kenya","tag-the-star","tag-the-star-kenya","tag-the-star-newspaper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}