Rick Bregman

As San Diego market president for $1.7 trillion Bank of America, Rick Bregman is not too worried about the current tumult facing financial institutions.

“There’s been a flight to quality, so as customers are looking for a more stable institution to bank with, the market situation has generated a lot of opportunity,” he says.

The 18-year industry veteran wears two hats at BofA: as market president, he’s responsible for community interaction and coordination of all of the bank’s business —consumer, commercial, corporate, real estate and investment services across 80-some branches in the San Diego region.

He also heads up a health care and institutions group for BofA in the western United States, which focuses on the banking needs of health care companies, higher education and major nonprofits from hospital systems to colleges.

The Point Loma High School grad joined BofA in 1992.

Outside of trying to clean up Countrywide’s lawsuits, Bregman says he doesn’t see too much fallout from BofA’s purchase of the troubled lending behemoth earlier this year. “The response from community groups has been very supportive,” he says.

Bregman says BofA also is being proactive in dealing with its own mortgage customers who may have gotten caught up in the mortgage meltdown. “We’ve been trying to outreach to our consumers, instead of waiting for customers to come to the bank,” Bregman explains. “We’re reaching out to homeowners who are in potentially difficult situations.”

In the second quarter, BofA earned about $3.4 billion, down from $5.8 billion a year earlier. CEO Ken Lewis called the quarter “solid results in a difficult financial environment.”

Bregman says the current fuss in financials will lead to greater bank consolidation. “I think the market will change dramatically, and in all segments,” he says. “There are already banks that have been taken over, and are taking losses, and you can’t continue to do that for too long.”

Asked for a five-year prognosis, he says, “Banks that have a more diversified revenue stream are the ones that will do well in the next five, but banks that overly relied on real estate will be in a challenging situation.”