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. 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. The relationship between credit unions and shareholders arise from the membership and are not customer relationship. Standards by which credit unions build their work do not coincide with the standards and regulations of consumer cooperation of the usual type.