Today in the UK there are about 700 credit unions with assets exceeding 200 million pounds. Credit unions also differ from the traditional consumer cooperatives. The uniqueness of credit unions is that they put together the principles and benefits of financial cooperatives, consumer cooperatives and mutual aid funds, born once by trade unions. Credit unions of the open type are still controlled by their members, but at the same time provide services to people who are not its members (external customers). International cooperation has been particularly felt since the days when Alphonse Desjardins began the activity on development of credit union movement in North America. 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. 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.