BOSTON — Bank of New England Corp., which has shrunk under the weight of troubled real estate loans, announced Friday it lost more than $30 million in its second quarter.

The quarterly financial report follows a string of gloomy financial news for the bank, continuing the institution’s tumble that began late last year. But the magnitude of the losses has declined in recent months.

BNE lost more than $1 billion in 1989, and $46.6 million in the first quarter that ended March 31.

In the second quarter, which ended June 30, the bank lost $33.3 million, or 49 cents per share, compared with earnings of $36.5 million, or 52 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

BNE owns several financial institutions in the region, including Maine National Bank. Chairman Lawrence Fish said in a statement that the company has made “slow but steady progress” in trying to recover.

The loss was not unexpected “because of the continued sluggishness in the region’s economy, the softness in the real estate market, and lower net income,” he said.

In part, the losses were caused by the need to divert money into reserves to cover bad loans. The bank’s total non-performing assets, which include troubled loans, grew to $2.78 billion on June 30, compared with $2.67 billion three months earlier.

Gerard Cassidy, a bank analyst with Tucker Anthony Inc., said the bank’s assets were not deteriorating at the same rate as in the past.

“But when you’re at these levels, you need to see reduction in non-performing assets, not smaller increases,” he said. “Overall, the numbers are a continuation of a negative trend.”

Bank of New England has been operating under federal orders since early this year. The bank came under heightened government scrutiny when a downturn in the economy and the real estate market exposed mountains of bad loans.

Part of the bank’s strategy has been to sell off assets and slash its work force to cut costs and raise money.

The bank has reduced its workforce by 4,000 through a combination of layoffs, attrition and the sale of assets. Since the beginning of the year, the bank has sold more than $5 billion in assets, said spokesman James Dorsey.

The company has decided not to sell its subsidiary bank in Maine, but is continuing discussions with possible buyers for its Rhode Island subsidiary.

The bank had been borrowing money from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston to meet immediate cash needs but stopped in mid-June. Bank of New England officials said, however, “this could change from time to time.”

The bank said it has been able to stabilize its deposits through a campaign to attract certificates of deposit and by offering other retail products.