Zurich  - Shares in Swiss banking giant UBS AG fell Tuesday after the embattled financial house announced plans for a shakeout in its top management in the wake of another quarterly loss.

Zurich-based UBS, which has emerged as one of the prominent victims of the US mortgage meltdown, said it chalked up a loss of 358 million Swiss francs (330 million dollars) in the three months to the end of June.

The second-quarter loss was the group's fourth consecutive quarterly loss and compared to a 11.5-billion-franc loss in the first quarter this year. UBS reported a
5.5-billion-franc profit in the second quarter last year.

The bank said its key wealth management division had been particularly badly hit during the latest quarter, losing 17.3 billion francs with UBS announcing further subprime writedowns.

"The results were impacted by realized and unrealized losses of 5.1 billion dollars on legacy risk positions, mainly on exposures related to US residential real estate related securities and other credit positions," UBS said.

The bank said it is also not expecting any improvement in market conditions during the runup to the end of the year saying it planned to press on with cutting costs, reducing risks and eliminating jobs.

Unveiling its latest earnings, UBS said its finance director Marco Suter was stepping down to be replaced by John Cryan as part of a broader restructuring of the group's management which includes nominating four new directors.

UBS shares slumped 1.6 per cent to 23 francs following the releasing of the bank's latest results. (dpa)