By Richard Alexander, Brian McCormally, Michael Mancusi, Erik Walsh and Kevin Toomey ( February 27, 2018, 12:20 PM EST) -- Although the current administration may signal its intention to exercise a more relaxed regulatory examination environment for financial institutions, industry participants should not make the mistake of expecting a more relaxed enforcement environment, particularly in the area of anti-money laundering. This point has been underscored by numerous criminal and regulatory penalties levied against financial institutions for deficiencies in their Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering (BSA/AML) programs since the beginning of 2017. With these cases, the government has signaled that AML enforcement remains a top priority. Below we discuss several takeaways from recent actions, which should help financial institutions assess the adequacy of their own BSA/AML programs and prevent similar government penalties....