Today in the UK there are about 700 credit unions with assets exceeding 200 million pounds. Some credit unions are closed, serving only their members. However, the more and more popularitywin cooperatives of open type. Credit union promotes the effective conservation of personal funds of its members, giving them the loans from the funds of the credit union, as well as the sharing of savings in education, housing, health care and other programs of social support and social development of its members. First central bank of credit unions appeared in 1876. Credit unions began to appear rapidly in many European countries. Among the U.S. credit unions, there are three groups that differ in terms of assets, shareholders, and business services. The main advantage of credit unions consists in transparency, controllability, governance for shareholders. Membership in the credit union forms responsible citizens and conscientious attitude to their obligations as a norm of behavior, identify the value of a decent man's reputation in the business turnover. Credit unions historically formed as a special form of social support, initially taken upon themselves the social mission of protecting the interests of citizens in the field of financial services. Corporate alliances are intermediaries between credit unions and financial markets.