Paraguay President Santiago Peña Resigns After Ueno Bank Collapse Freezes Millions of Accounts

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña stepped down Thursday as the collapse of Ueno Bank, a fast-growing digital lender, triggered a sweeping financial and political crisis. Peña announced his resignation in a video posted to X, saying he was stepping down to preserve the country's stability and democratic institutions, just as Congress began impeachment proceedings against him.

Ueno Bank, which had roughly 3 million customers, was seized by Paraguay's central bank due to a solvency crisis, with its branch doors locked overnight and depositors left unable to withdraw funds. The bank held approximately $800 million to $850 million in public funds, including around $380 million in state pension money, and its failure affected accounts belonging to close to 60 percent of Paraguay's adults. About 280,000 people who banked exclusively with Ueno are being transferred to accounts at other institutions.

Perceptions of Peña's personal ties to the bank deepened the political pressure. He had held a stake in Ueno's holding company until around March 2025, and he appointed Carlos Carvallo, the president of Financiera Ueno, the digital lender's predecessor, to head Paraguay's central bank, the very regulator responsible for supervising Ueno. Those connections fueled calls for his removal and accelerated the congressional impeachment push that preceded his resignation.