In 1908. the spread of credit unions has reached the United States. In 1935 President Roosevelt signed the state Charter on credit unions, which became a law. In recent decades, many credit unions began to resort to such form of service as Like the credit cooperatives, credit unions form associations of a higher level, which are called corporate credit 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. Credit unions are financial institutions, financial cooperatives of citizens, and in this capacity they are above all associations of people, not unification of capitals, which is typical, for example, for public companies. Today, the World Council of Credit Unions is represented as members four regional confederations and twelve national associations.