The main advantage of credit unions consists in transparency, controllability, governance for shareholders. A potential new member of a credit union must submit a recommendation of shareholders in which the referee becomes a warrant of a future member of the credit union. 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 are competitors of savings institutions, adding interest on deposits of members. This applies to the shares, as well as to additional funds transferred to the account in the credit union. Initially, the target groups of credit unions were farmers (Raiffeisen), and now they include both individuals (credit unions), and organizations. Shareholders in corporate organizations are basic credit unions, besides the same union can be a shareholder of several corporate organizations. Credit unions encourage the proper use of shareholders savings, developing social programs (education, health, recreation, housing, etc.).