EN
The article is devoted to the history of credit unions. The Author describes roots and the moment of birth of the movement. Subsequently he documents the development of credit unions, from the first union established by Alphonse Desjardins, where clients were served in founder’s house one evening a week, to present time, when credit unions’ movement is worldwide, includes 97 countries on all continents, 53,7 thousand credit unions, 185,8 million members and 1194 milliard USD assets.