Credit unions around the world celebrated the 66th annual International Credit Union (ICU) Day on Thursday, Oct. 16.

“The day is recognized to reflect upon the credit union movement’s history and to promote achievements,” the World Council of Credit Unions’ website stated. “It is a day to honor those who have dedicated their lives to the movement, recognize the hard work of those working in the credit union industry and show members our appreciation.”

Credit unions have more than 100 million memberships nationwide as of this past summer, the Fontana Herald News reported.

That number is equivalent to 31 percent of the U.S. population, according to Steve Rick, chief economist for the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) Mutual Group.

“Credit Unions are unique in the realm of financial institutions because rather than answering to corporate stockholders, they exist to serve their members,” a Pennsylvania State Employees Credit Union (PSECU) press release stated.

PSECU is a regional credit union based out of Harrisburg, PA, with an on-campus branch located in the Ceddia Union Building (CUB).

Since PSECU’s opening in 1934 the credit union has accumulated more than 415,000 members.

There are no customers at PSECU because it is a not-for-profit financial cooperative that is democratically controlled. This means that PSECU is made up of members that elect people to the board of directors to represent them.

“[W]e support a wide variety of community organizations,” the press release stated. “On your college campus, we can be seen supporting campus events, giving out random acts of freeness and providing free financial education programming…”

The first ICU Day was celebrated in 1948 and has been recognized every year since on the third Thursday in Oct. This year’s theme is “Local Service. Global Good,” which represents the positive impact credit unions have on people throughout the world.

The earliest credit unions can be dated back to the19th century in England and Germany. German credit unions had unique characteristics that became the standard for modern credit unions like PSECU. These include being democratically controlled, equal membership treatment regardless of the amount of money deposited by the member and a member-elected board of directors, according to the National Credit Union Administration.

“International Credit Union Day is a day to pause specifically to celebrate all the good that credit unions around the world are doing for their members and their communities as a whole,” the press release stated.

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