Like any financial institution, credit unions have the financial resources. Today in the UK there are about 700 credit unions with assets exceeding 200 million pounds. The number of shareholders of a credit union is limited and formalized by a list. Limit of the number is defined by the assembly and such assembly establishes the charter. 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. Historically, credit unions have grown from the experience of credit cooperatives, but they took the experience of organizations of mutual aid of citizens by moving methods of social self-protection from labor and toward consumption.