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Broad compliance problems at U.S. financial institutions have forced bank regulators to increasingly rely on independent audits in their reviews of anti-money laundering programs, according to government officials and consultants. The shift, which coincides with a sharp rise in enforcement actions tied to lending practices and capital requirements, has also led regulators to push banks and their third-party auditors to draft more detailed audits, at times to the surprise of compliance departments, said Maureen Young, a lawyer for Boston-based law firm Bingham McCutchen LLP. Examiners are looking for independent auditors to be "their long arms in the institution" in instances...