That's why it was no surprise when the banking community vowed to fight an application by the mega big box store to charter its own industrial loan corporation.

Opponents say the retail giant could do to banking what it did to mom-n-pop hardware and grocery stores — that is, wipe them out — while hurting small business in the process. They feared Wal-Mart would then control the fate of its diminutive competitors by potentially withholding loans.

In fact, the move was so controversial that Congress imposed a moratorium on ILC charter applications that has yet to be lifted, and with a new Democratic Congress coming into power in January the moratorium could become a prohibition.

But Jane Thompson, president of Wal-Mart Financial Services, said the company's foray into the banking world is only about "back-of-the-house functions," and that the controversial ILC charter application has overshadowed a softer and friendly Wal-Mart banking initiative designed to serve the unbanked and the underserved.

The Bank Administration Institute allowed Thompson to argue her point before a crowd of less-hostile-than-expected bankers at its annual conference in Las Vegas this week.

(Several bankers who attended the session said they felt Wal-Mart's ILC charter was just a matter of time.)

"A lot of people look at us as the bad guy," said Thompson.

But Wal-Mart is actually seeking to serve customers who wouldn't otherwise seek their financial services from any bank at all, she said.

Up to 20 percent of U.S. families are unbanked, according to Thompson, including 70 percent of people who make less than $35,000.

And many of those people are Wal-Mart customers.

Wal-Mart's average customer makes only $330 per week, and visits the store an average 2.3 times each week.

So the company decided to offer practically the only thing its customers couldn't already get there — money transfers, bill pay services, money orders and check cashing — at the customer service desk, and at Wal-Mart style prices.

Wal-Mart undercuts the competition by about 50 percent, charging $3 for payroll check cashing, 46 cents for money orders and $9.46 for money transfers.

They advertise to Hispanic and African-American audiences on billboards and buses.

And they're proud of the fact that they save their customers an estimated 3 percent of each paycheck — or $4 million to $4.5 million nationwide in customer savings each week.

She estimated that the company will have saved its customers more than $2 billion on financial services by the end of the year.

Thompson said the key to Wal-Mart financial services is clear: competitive pricing and partnering with companies that understand Wal-Mart's high-volume, low-price business model.

Although Wal-Mart offers the services in-store, they use vendors to actually provide the services.

"We're not trying to be retailers. We are the aggregator, the operator," said Thompson.

Wal-Mart first began offering money orders in 2000, and has since rolled out the rest of its financial services, and now does $2 million a week in transactions.

"When we have too many transactions (in a particular store) we have to get them off the customer-service desk," said Thompson.

So the company created the Money Center, an in-store desk where customers can perform all their financial transactions.

There are currently about 100 around the country, although Thompson said the company could use another 400 or so and will be adding more in the next year. And they've noticed that business pops 30 to 40 percent when they open a Money Center.

Thompson said Wal-Mart saves unbanked customers money on their financial transactions every week.

"We want to be the best place for basic money services for people without a checking account," Thompson said.

But the mission — or the takeover, depending on who's talking — doesn't end there.

Wal-Mart wants those unbanked customers to develop a relationship with a financial institution, because when customers are banking they're doing better financially, and when they're doing better financially they're spending more money at Wal-Mart. But if someone's going offer them banking services, the company might as well find a way to profit, right?

So Wal-Mart introduced in-store bank branches, similar to those already available in grocery stores around the country. These independent banks, located in more than 1,200 Wal-Mart stores, have long-term leases. More than 500 new locations are already planned.

And the banks that have agreed to get into bed with Wal-Mart have been successful so far. SunTrust Banks, which has partnered with the mega-retailer in several states, reports two to three times greater deposits in Wal-Mart branches than in other in-store branches.

Although SunTrust is Wal-Mart's largest partner, the company partners with about 300 banks.

Some, like SunTrust, are co-branded with the big box retailer and carry the tag line, "Member of Wal-Mart Financial Services Network." Wal-Mart retains some control over the products and services those banks offer, as well as their prices.

Although Thompson claimed Wal-Mart doesn't have any control over what financial products in-store banks that aren't co-branded offer — they're just tenants, she said — it does "encourage" the independent banks to "make sure they have a product that helps the customer who's very close to the edge on cash flow."

They also make it clear that those banks may need to look for, well, a different kind of employee and will need to understand the kind of culture where a 12-pound jar of pickles costs less than $3.

And they must be prepared to stay open later, sometimes even 24 hours a day.

Many of Wal-Mart's in-store banks offer accounts that won't allow customers to overdraft, since they can't afford the fees.

One thing Thompson ruled out for Wal-Mart is free-standing bank branches.

"What we know is stores," she said.

The company has no desire to be in the retail banking business.

"We are not trying to be the bank or the credit card," she said.

But with 250 to 275 new Wal-Mart stores opening each year, Thompson said they'll always be looking for banks "who get it," and who are willing to cozy up to one of the most shopped, but most controversial, businesses in the world.

Bill Uffelman, president and chief executive of the Nevada Bankers Association, said banks do have some limitations in their ability to serve the underbanked, especially those people who are no longer eligible for bank membership due to credit issues or check fraud histories.

"To the extent that the Wal-Mart shopper demographic is someone who is underbanked, having a bank that is available may get them to participate," Uffleman said.

And Wal-Mart, which has banks and stores in Mexico, could provide an attractive alternative for immigrants who want to send money home.

As for the ILC charter, Uffleman said that's up the feds.

But Thompson hopes that once the ILC application is resolved, larger banks will decide it's safe for them, too, to get into bed with the largest employer in America.

The ILC filing, she said, "has put a cloud over our in-store bank program."

It's safe to say she hopes the weather's changing.