Paraguay Senators Oust President Santiago Peña After Ueno Bank Collapse Strands Millions
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Nov 6
Paraguay Senators Oust President Santiago Peña After Ueno Bank Collapse Strands Millions
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Nov 6
Summary
Friday’s unanimous Senate vote removed Santiago Peña from office after Congress rejected his resignation a day earlier, escalating a political crisis triggered by Ueno bank’s collapse.
Millions of Paraguayans lost access to savings, cash withdrawals, digital payments and bank cards after regulators found Ueno insolvent and the central bank seized it on Tuesday.
Miguel Vázquez, Ueno’s chief executive, and other senior directors were arrested on attempted fraud charges the same day, while the central bank chief—a former Ueno president—resigned.
Peña is under criminal investigation over his ties to the bank, including past holdings in related company Ueno Holding, as street protests spread across the country.
The collapse threatens Paraguay’s image as a rare regional economic bright spot, with Ueno having grown into one of the country’s largest banks and a major lender to low-income clients.
With massive public pension funds vanished, can Paraguay's new leadership prevent a total economic meltdown following the Ueno Bank scandal?
How did a single digital bank's collapse manage to paralyze most of Paraguay's adults and topple its president in just days?
Paraguay’s Ueno Bank Collapse: 3 Million Accounts Frozen, Presidential Impeachment, and the Fight to Restore Financial Stability
Overview
Ueno Bank’s rapid digital expansion attracted nearly 3 million Paraguayans, but weak oversight and insider fraud led to a collapse in its finances. When central bank auditors exposed the bank’s insolvency, regulators froze accounts, sparking nationwide protests and a sharp fall in the currency and bonds. President Santiago Peña, facing public outrage, tried to resign but was impeached and removed from office, losing his immunity. Vice President Pedro Alliana took over as criminal probes targeted former officials and bank executives. To ease the crisis, Congress created a state-backed deposit guarantee to begin phased payouts to affected depositors.