The savings and credit cooperative was introduced to Asian countries by the British colonial government as solution to the rural credit in India and Sri Lanka more than 100 years ago. Even before they had fully consolidated in Germany, cooperatives began spreading in some countries of Asia. In Thailand, cooperatives were introduced in 1915 and in the Philippines in 1892.
Credit unions had a turning point in the 1960s when for the first time; the credit union training was conducted in Bangkok, Thailand by Social Economic Life of Asia (SELA). The conference was attended by young enthusiastic leaders across Asia who later on pioneered credit unions in their respective countries.
The Training cum seminar was very comprehensive and extensive covering those subjects as social and economic significance of credit unions, credit union philosophy and principles as well as credit union management.