Today in the UK there are about 700 credit unions with assets exceeding 200 million pounds. Credit unions perform the function of social protection in a vital for people sphere of financial services. They care about improving the financial literacy of the population, are working on the formation of their members and their employees. The main activities of credit unions, aimed at the organization of mutual aid and social support of citizens is not intended to profit. Historically, credit unions have grown from the experience of credit cooperatives, but they took the experience of organizations of mutual aid of citizens by moving methods of social self-protection from labor and toward consumption. Corporate alliances are intermediaries between credit unions and financial markets.