NEW YORK (Reuters) - E*Trade Financial Corp (ETFC.O: Quote, Profile, Research) reported a steeper-than-expected quarterly loss on Thursday on additional losses in its home equity loan portfolio.

The discount brokerage reported a first-quarter net loss of $91.2 million, or 20 cents per share, narrowing from $1.7 billion, or $3.98 per share, in the previous quarter, when the brokerage teetered on the brink of bankruptcy.

Analysts, on average, expected a loss of 10 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

A year ago, E*Trade had net income of $169.4 million, or 39 cents per share.

In an interview, Chief Executive Donald Layton said the three-year cumulative losses on the company's mortgage portfolio were still expected to range from $1 billion to $1.5 billion, despite a difficult housing market, "It's not getting worse, which is quite an accomplishment," he said.

Customer assets declined 11 percent from the previous quarter, while the number of daily trades fell by 11 percent.

Total new customer accounts rose by 62,000 to 4.8 million.

(Reporting by Phil Wahba; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe )

(phil.wahba@reuters.com ; +1 646 223 6128; Reuters Messaging: phil.wahba.reuters.com@reuters.com) Keywords: E*TRADE/RESULTS