Digital bank collapse brings down Paraguay's President Peña

According to Forbes Argentina, the central bank took the decision to intervene on 2 November and announced it on the morning of 3 November. Ueno, the country's sixth-largest bank, held 2,836 million dollars in deposits at the end of September. AP reports that once its books were corrected, capital fell below half the legal minimum. Reuters says the app, launched in 2021, had reached about 3 million customers in a country of 6.5 million; public bodies and the state pension fund held roughly 850 million dollars at the bank as of June.

The Buenos Aires Herald reports that the lower house impeached Peña unanimously, by 78 votes, and rejected a motion to impeach Vice-President Alliana by 48 to 30. According to Reuters, the Senate removed Peña on the evening of 6 November, and he was arrested on 7 November on a charge of breach of trust. Carlos Carvallo, Ueno's former chairman who was appointed head of the central bank in 2023, was arrested the same day. Peña was a partner in the group that controls Ueno until March 2025 and denies the charges.

The constraint is the deposit guarantee fund. Forbes Argentina says it covers 228.3 million guaraníes per depositor, about 38,300 dollars; AP reports that this ceiling covers the full balance of about 97% of customers. The first instalment was capped at around 1,600 dollars. On 3 November the central bank said it would seek the highest possible protection for deposits above the ceiling, but how much of the 850 million dollars in public money will come back is unclear. The bank described the case as isolated the same day, seeking to limit contagion across the system.