Some credit unions are closed, serving only their members. However, the more and more popularitywin cooperatives of open type. First central bank of credit unions appeared in 1876. Credit unions began to appear rapidly in many European countries. 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. The supreme body of the World Council of Credit Unions is the Assembly, which elects the president and the board of directors of WOCCU.