Some credit unions are closed, serving only their members. However, the more and more popularitywin cooperatives of open type. First central bank of credit unions appeared in 1876. Credit unions began to appear rapidly in many European countries. As of the January 1, 2012 the national associations and confederations unite more than 196 million members participating in the 51,013 credit unions in 100 countries. Until the mid-XX century, credit unions in the United States had little assets that did not exceed, as a rule, 100 thousand dollars The main activities of credit unions, aimed at the organization of mutual aid and social support of citizens is not intended to profit. Corporate alliances are intermediaries between credit unions and financial markets.