To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: An article recently published by the Brookings Institution as an op-ed entitled “A few small banks have become overdraft giants” serves as a warning that bank overdraft practices are likely to face increased attention from the “new CFPB.” Authored by Aaron Klein, a Brookings Senior Fellow, the article reports that overdraft revenues accounted for more than half of the net income of six small banks in 2020 and criticizes regulators for “tolerat[ing] banks that are mostly or entirely dependent on overdraft fees for profitability.” The author labels banks that are heavily reliant on overdrafts for their profits “a combination of payday lenders and check cashers.” He calls on bank regulators to “crack down on these institutions that are operating in neither a safe nor sound manner” and “to consider whether the overdraft product is really a loan, not a fee.” Mr. Klein also calls on the CFPB “to engage.” He asserts that “calling [overdrafts] a fee may exempt [them] from certain regulations, but it does not change [their] nature [as a loan].”