Forty years ago, credit unions created something that actually turned out to be a miracle: the corporate credit union system.

Of course, they didn't know it would be a miracle in the beginning. They created something out of nothing ever seen before in the financial history of our country–a wholesale financial entity created for service, not for profit. The leagues and CUNA were the prime movers of this initial effort. Without them, it might never have happened.

In the early '70s, virtually every CU in the nation had a bank account. The banks gave reasonable service and earned significant profits from this arrangement. When credit unions needed to borrow, they borrowed from a bank or savings and loan. When they had money to invest, they most often invested it with a bank or S&L.