Paraguay’s Peña resigns after Ueno Bank collapse

Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña announced his resignation on Nov. 5, 2026, three days after regulators moved against Ueno Bank, a digital lender that said it served more than 60 per cent of the country’s adults.

The collapse froze the accounts of about 280,000 people who banked only with Ueno, and about $800 million in public deposits was reported at the bank last month, including money from the state pension and health fund, The Associated Press reported.

Peña, 47, an economist and former finance minister, took office on Aug. 15, 2023. In a video statement he said: “I have made the decision to submit my resignation as President of the Republic,” the Asunción Times reported. He added that “history will judge and place in their proper perspective the events that we are living through today,” and apologized “if at any moment I have failed.”

The Asunción Times said the resignation was pending consideration by the National Congress, which had not yet reached the quorum needed to address it. NPR’s headline on the story said Peña was impeached minutes after resigning. Canada News Media has not been able to confirm the details of that vote, so the formal status of his departure is developing.

According to AP, regulators investigating loans to companies linked to Ueno’s owners found poorly documented lending and expenses wrongly counted as assets. Once corrected, the bank’s capital fell below half the legal minimum. The central bank seized Ueno on Nov. 3.

AP also reported that central bank inspectors found a pattern of risky lending to insiders in June, including nearly $39 million sent to three such companies on a single day in September 2025. It said Peña had dismissed the concerns as a smear campaign as recently as last month, and that until last year he held a stake in Ueno’s holding company.

Carlos Carvallo, the central bank president Peña had appointed, resigned on Nov. 4 at the president’s request, AP reported. He had previously been president of Financiera Ueno, the finance company Ueno Bank grew out of. Pedro Acosta Bernal was named interim central bank president and said: “The banking system is sound.”

Eight senior Ueno executives were detained, including founder Miguel Vázquez and bank president Juan Manuel Gustale, and prosecutors charged 27 bank officials and business associates with offences including breach of trust and attempted fraud, AP reported. Hundreds of employees of Ueno’s parent, Grupo Vázquez, protested at the Labor Ministry over severance and unpaid wages.

In the capital, riot police used pepper spray and rubber pellets on crowds, AP said. Protester Luis Pineda said: “Santiago Peña and the Colorado Party have stolen all our savings.”

Peña’s own Colorado Party turned against him. Former president Horacio Cartes, the party’s leader, withdrew his support, and both main factions in the lower house pledged to back impeachment, AP reported. Removal would have required a two-thirds vote in the lower house and a second two-thirds vote in the Senate. The Asunción Times said the impeachment motion had 35 signatures in the 80-member Chamber of Deputies.

Neither report we reviewed named a successor.

No Canadian link to Ueno Bank has been reported. Canadians travelling to or doing business in Paraguay can check current conditions on travel.gc.ca, as protests and bank disruptions were reported in Asunción this week.

What happens next depends on Congress, which must act on the resignation. Depositor repayments had begun by Nov. 4, AP reported, and the cases against the 27 charged are before prosecutors.

Via The Associated Press and the Asunción Times.

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