To the person who is against all things banking right now, Bank of America Corp. (BAC) CEO Brian Moynihan may seem like a cynical opportunist. Moynihan sees himself as making a statement.

Bank of America gets it.

For decades, Bank of America was hostile, if not openly defiant, towards regulators and elected officials. It acquired competitors across the country and became the largest U.S. bank in assets.

But that was before the financial markets nearly collapsed, and the words “too-big-to-fail” became a fixture at kitchen tables throughout America.

The outreach began before he officially took over as CEO. Three weeks after his predecessor Kenneth D. Lewis announced his retirement, Moynihan and his global strategy chief and marketing officer Anne Finucane met with senior officials in the Obama administration. The topic? How Bank of America could work with the White House to help it achieve its policy objectives.

In fact, Moynihan spent five of his first 13 days as CEO in Washington D.C. – a major strategy shift from his predecessor.

People close to the bank say Moynihan wants to change the company’s beleaguered reputation, have a voice in new regulation and avoid the sparring with U.S. officials that led to regulatory handcuffs, a forced overhaul of the board and Mr. Lewis’s departure.

“Brian wants to be a part of the solution to the economic challenges facing the country,” says James Mahoney a Bank of America spokesman. “We have a lot of resources and expertise that he wants to bring to bear in tandem with policy makers in Washington. If the economy grows, we grow. It’s pretty straightforward.”

The strategy would seem to make sense. Populist rhetoric is nearing a tipping point where policy changes are becoming a question of “if” not “when”.

Moynihan’s moderate tone, says William Longbrake, a director at First Financial Northwest Inc. of Renton, Wash., “is a necessary change because they are still not out of the woods. … If there are more problems down the road, he needs (U.S. officials) to be on his side, not against him.”

John McDonald, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. says the go-along-to-get-along approach comes with the recognition that Bank of America is “in the crosshairs” of the regulatory shake-up reverberating over the U.S. banking industry.

Says McDonald, “It makes it more likely you will be able to shape your implementation if you sign up for the spirit of what they are doing.”

So when Moynihan was told that loan modifications were a priority for the Obama administration, he made sure Bank of America would be the first loan servicer to join a new program that modifies payments on second mortgages.

Moynihan has also suggested that the U.S. offer loan guarantees to homeowners willing to hire small businesses for energy-efficient, home-improvement projects. He has also hinted that Bank of America would not oppose a proposed consumer-protection agency. And although he has tried to remain neutral, he has fretted about how President Obama would define the proprietary trading he wants to curb at giant banks.