Paraguay puts Ueno Bank into resolution, freezing accounts for about 3 million customers

Paraguay's central bank has put Ueno Bank into resolution, freezing the accounts of about 3 million customers. The board of the Banco Central del Paraguay voted unanimously on 2 November 2026, and the decision was announced early on 3 November, leaving the bank's app, cards and transfers suspended while a deposit guarantee and a legal deadline set the terms for getting money back. Payments under that guarantee began on the evening of 5 November, starting with the smallest savers. The collapse has since cost President Santiago Pena his office. The Senate removed him on 6 November, and he is now in pretrial detention after prosecutors charged him over the bank's collapse.

What happened

The central bank said Ueno Bank's solvency ratio, a measure of capital against risk-weighted assets, had fallen below half the legal minimum after adjustments to the bank's financial statements during a regularisation process.

On the morning of 3 November, customers reported that they could not view their balances, withdraw money or make transactions, with the mobile application, debit cards and credit cards all unavailable. Ueno Bank says it has about 3 million customers, about 60% of Paraguay's adult population.

Resolution differs from court bankruptcy in one practical way: regulators take control of a failing bank and can transfer its deposits to sounder banks before liquidating the remaining assets to repay creditors. The central bank has said the problem concerns Ueno alone, not the wider banking system.

Prosecutors charged 27 people on 4 November, including eight Ueno directors, over alleged breach of trust, attempted fraud, misconduct in a crisis and failing to keep proper books. The charges follow the central bank's complaints about the bank. No court has ruled on guilt, and the accused have the presumption of innocence.

The president was removed from office

On 5 November the Chamber of Deputies voted 78-0 to impeach President Santiago Pena over the Ueno collapse. The Senate voted 44-0 the next day to remove him from office for misconduct, with one senator not voting. Pena had offered to resign that day, but Congress rejected the resignation and went ahead with impeachment, so he lost the immunity a former president would otherwise keep. Vice President Pedro Alliana was sworn in as president on 6 November and will serve the rest of the term, through August 2028.

On Saturday 7 November Pena appeared before prosecutors. He was questioned for about three hours and declined to testify, and prosecutors then charged him with breach of trust, as instigator, and administration for personal gain, as perpetrator. Each charge carries up to 10 years in prison. Judge Humberto Otazu ordered him held in pretrial detention at the Regimiento Escolta Presidencial, a military facility, where he had already spent Friday night after being moved from his home for security as protesters gathered outside. His lawyer says he pleads not guilty. The charges cite his earlier stake in Ueno's holding company, which he sold in March 2025, his appointment of Carvallo as central bank chief, and about $355 million in IPS pension funds held at Ueno, allegedly beyond legal limits. Pena has denied wrongdoing, and his removal does not establish criminal guilt.

Former central bank chief Carlos Carvallo was charged with the same two offences, plus falsifying public documents, and the judge ordered him held in pretrial detention too. He is in custody. Alliana has pledged that those affected by the collapse will be fully compensated, though he gave no timetable for when they will get their money back.

What happens to customer money

Eligible deposits are protected by Paraguay's Deposit Guarantee Fund up to 75 monthly minimum wages, currently 228.3 million guaranies, about $38,000, per depositor per financial institution, applied to a depositor's combined eligible deposits at Ueno rather than to each account separately.

About 97% of Ueno's depositors have balances fully covered by that guarantee, according to preliminary estimates cited by central bank board member Marco Aurelio Gonzalez. By law, guaranteed money must be paid within 15 days of the takeover, a deadline that can be extended once by another 15 days, which puts the initial deadline on 17 November 2026.

Congress moved quickly to speed the payments up. On 4 November, President Santiago Pena promulgated Law No. 7745, which lets the guarantee fund pay an advance of up to 40 monthly minimum wages, 121.76 million guaranies, about $19,800, per depositor, minus overdue debts owed to the bank. The payment process had to start within 24 hours and finish within five business days.

Payments began on the evening of 5 November with a first group: depositors whose total deposits are no more than 10 million guaranies, about $1,700, who owe nothing to Ueno and hold an account at another bank or finance company in Paraguay. Those depositors receive their whole balance.

Transfers run from the afternoon of Friday 6 November to about 1.6 million depositors who already hold an account at another bank, and about 265,000 people without one will have an account opened for them. Twelve banks are taking part in the payments. Each depositor can check which bank will pay them on the central bank's page at bcp.gov.py/fgd-pagos, without waiting for an email. Later groups will be announced by the central bank as the process advances, and no dates have been given for them.

The first tranche is complete. Interim central bank president Pedro Acosta Bernal told a press conference on Saturday 7 November that 994.601 billion guaranies, about $168 million, had been paid to about 1,196,000 people in two days, covering balances of one to 10 million guaranies with no overdue debts, plus a group with larger amounts. A second tranche is underway, from 10 million guaranies up to 40 monthly minimum wages, 121.76 million guaranies. About 669,336 accounts are still waiting to be processed, and no dates have been given for the later groups.

The later phase also covers foreign depositors, including many Brazilians who banked only with Ueno. The central bank says nationality is no bar to the guarantee.

Money above the guarantee limit is not promised in full. The central bank said only that it would seek the greatest possible protection for those balances, with recovery depending on the outcome of the resolution process and any liquidation.

The freeze also touches public money, since Ueno manages about $800 million to $850 million in public funds, including about $380 million held for the state pension and health fund, the IPS. About 32,000 retirees collect their pensions through Ueno, but the IPS has said November pensions will be paid as usual because the money for monthly payments is held at another bank, and those retirees are being moved to another bank.

What is still unknown

The first tranche of guarantee payments is complete, but no dates have been given for later payment groups, and none for banking services to resume, because administrators appointed under the resolution must first assess the bank's assets and liabilities as of the resolution date. The central bank will announce how and when customers can recover their funds.

Former central bank president Carlos Carvallo, who ran Ueno before his appointment to the post, resigned on 3 November at President Pena's request. He is not overseeing the takeover. The takeover is run by the central bank's intervention team. Carvallo has since been charged with breach of trust, administration for personal gain and falsifying public documents, and a judge has ordered him held in pretrial detention. He is in custody.

Last verified 8 November 2026. This piece was updated on 8 November 2026 to record the first tranche of guarantee payments and the charges and pretrial detention of former President Santiago Pena and former central bank chief Carlos Carvallo.