Wal-Mart Stores has long faced opposition from banks and labor unions to its attempts to break into the US banking business. So the retailer's founding family has come up with another way to get credit to its customers: Progress Financial. One of a growing number of financial institutions serving Hispanic customers who don't have bank accounts, Progress Financial has morphed into a kissing cousin of Wal-Mart's stores. The company is run by a former Wal-Mart executive. A Wal-Mart director sits on the lender's board. With Progress Financial, which lends under the brand Progreso Financiero, the family that controls Wal-Mart can put money into the hands of an important group of customers, if only indirectly, through a network of more than 80 branches.