Historically, credit unions were preceded by widespread development of credit cooperation in many countries of Europe and America. Typically, donor contributions to the credit unions are targeted and used in the same statutory requirements and restrictions as the Mutual Financial Aid fund as a whole. Income received by the credit union shall be distributed among the shareholders or spent for the depreciation of services, that is, are the most effective means of meeting the needs of shareholders. Typically new members of the credit union become citizens having suretyship or recommendations from their friends - members of the credit union. The main advantage of credit unions consists in transparency, controllability, governance for shareholders. 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). 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.