consumer cooperative, whose principles of operation began with the whole cooperative
movement. The basis of the cooperative form of economic management was the idea
of economic self-defense of people by means of association in the organization for self-
sufficiency by cheaper and high-quality goods. Thus, the basic principle of a credit
union was formed, by which members of the company accumulate temporarily free
funds of some entities and provide them to other entities [3, p. 89].
The theoretical foundations of peasant credit cooperation were laid by Raiffeisen
in his book, published in 1866, entitled "Credit unions as a means of eliminating
poverty," and in 1869, he was able to organize in practice the first credit union.
Modern world practice shows that credit unions are playing a major role
nowadays in the US, Western Europe, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, where
small businesses play a leading role in ensuring economic growth. The formation of a
small business is almost always associated with difficulties in obtaining initial capital,
since banks are interested in lending to a stable business with constant cash flows.
Therefore, the main investor of small projects and made by credit unions.
The history of the emergence of the credit unions of our state is associated with a
specific event that took place in Gadyach town of Poltava province in 1869. The
inhabitants of the city had public hayers, who rented out, and when they received 1492
rubles from this lease, the community wanted to use these money or divide them, but,
on someone's advice, decided to establish a public cash desk. The name of this person
has not saved a story, but it is known that one of the founders was the mayor of
Khokhlovsky. This society has not yet had a distinct cooperative character and
ideological leaders. Its charter had a provision according to which the members of the
burghers had more rights to borrow than the other members. The loans were issued on
the basis of surety, but each member could only insure 10 rubles. The average loan
amount in the first years was 27 rubles. In the first year of its existence, Hadiach
Savings and Loan Society accounted for 28 members of the landowners-artisans and
merchants. Thus, the first credit union was formed in Ukraine. In the Galician regional
establishments the mixing of stock-based ambushes with the principles of reciprocity
was traced. During 1871, as a result of the active support of zemstvos of the
organization of credit cooperatives, three more rural savings and loan companies began
their activities. Among them - Vremivske in Ekaterinoslav, Oboznivske and Petrovske
in the Kherson region.
In 1929 credit unions were destroyed in Eastern Ukraine, and in 1939 - in the
West, their property and funds were nationalized, and they ceased to exist.
The first credit unions in independent Ukraine appeared in 1992. Every year the
number of credit unions gradually increased. The number of credit institutions
continued to increase, indicating an increase in consumers' interest in this financial
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