Kotsovska R. Financial Support by Credit Unions to Small Business

The object of the research is the sphere of economical relations appearing between the credit unions and their members regarding delivery of credits for small business development to the members. The purpose is to justify the theoretical and methodological grounds of credit unions functioning in Ukraine, development of mechanisms to improve the small business crediting process. The methods of generalization, comparison, factor and statistical analysis, and modeling were used. The theoretical and methodological results of the dissertation are recommended for use in the Training and Methodic Centre of the NAKSU, and the results of the work in the form of elaborations of the unions’ credit policy optimization mechanisms, recommendations for financial risks reduction and involvement of the population to the credit unions’ membership are applied in practical work of the credit unions in Lviv region. For the first time, the author singled out two stages of development of the modern Ukrainian credit union system, provided the full definition of the essence of a credit union, and improved the financial indicators system by adding the profitability and liquidity factors. The results of the work have been implemented in operation of the Central Credit Union Anisiya, Credit Union Halychyna in Lviv.