Congress created the credit union charter in 1934 to establish small, local, mutual associations of “people of small means seeking to protect themselves from high rate money lenders.” A lot has changed in the intervening seventy years, including the transformation of many formerly mutual organizations into stock-issuing corporations, and the growth of some credit unions into large institutions with billions of dollars in assets. In this environment, the credit union charter—unlike those of other American financial institutions—still requires that the 8,700 U.S. credit unions operate as mutual associations, reflecting a long-standing belief in the virtues of cooperatives.

Panelists at this AEI conference will discuss the key challenges and trends in this important financial sector, how credit unions relate to the broader financial system, the meaning of "ownership of a mutual by the members," and whether conversion from a credit union to a savings bank charter should be made easier or harder.