At the outset of the Experience, the then-small number of member cooperatives coordinated their activities through informal contacts between their leaders. After the formation of the CAJA LABORAL (LABORAL KUTXA) credit cooperative, the individual cooperatives joined the CAJA LABORAL, which facilitated the development of certain common standards and, somewhat later, formation of regional groupings. The economic crisis that began in the mid-seventies led to further changes under which the CAJA LABORAL’s coordination role was replaced by another arrangement that was intended to improve the Corporation’s ability to react to changing circumstances.