Peña resigns as Paraguay MPs advance impeachment over bank crisis

Ueno Bank customers face restricted access to accounts after regulators found a severe solvency shortfall; the president’s resignation still awaits formal consideration.

Paraguay’s lower house voted 78–0 to send an impeachment accusation against Santiago Peña to the Senate.¹
Ueno said it had more than 3 million customers; the number unable to access funds has not been confirmed.¹
The deposit guarantee covers up to ₲228.3 million per depositor, but Moody’s estimates only 30% of Ueno’s deposit value falls within the limit.²³
Congress had yet to confirm acceptance of Peña’s resignation in the latest reports reviewed.¹⁴

Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña submitted his resignation on Thursday as lawmakers voted unanimously to advance an impeachment accusation against him, turning a banking crisis into a struggle over the country’s leadership. The 78–0 vote sent the case to the Senate, which would need a two-thirds majority to convict him. Congress had not yet confirmed acceptance of his resignation, and the Senate had not ruled on the accusation in the latest reports reviewed.¹⁴

The crisis followed the Central Bank’s decision to begin resolution proceedings for Ueno Bank. The regulator said adjustments to the bank’s financial statements had left its solvency ratio below half the required minimum. Customers faced restrictions on their accounts, affecting access to savings, wages and pensions. Ueno said it had more than 3 million customers, but that figure does not establish how many people had inaccessible deposits or what losses they may ultimately face.²¹

The state guarantee covers up to ₲228.3 million per depositor at each financial institution. Moody’s estimated that about 97% of Ueno’s depositors would be fully covered by the guarantee, but that only about 30% of the bank’s deposit value was within the limit; recovery of uninsured balances remains uncertain. The Central Bank said its first payment group would include customers with deposits of up to ₲10 million, no debt to Ueno and an account at another local financial institution.²³⁵

The impeachment filing accused Peña of conflicts of interest and criticised his role in Ueno’s oversight. Reuters reported that he had been a business partner in the group that owned the bank until March 2025. The accusations are not findings of wrongdoing, and the reporting reviewed does not establish that Peña caused the bank’s solvency failure.⁶⁷

Vice-President Pedro Alliana is next in line to succeed Peña, but his own impeachment accusation was rejected by the lower house, 48–30. The formal status of Peña’s resignation and the Senate’s next steps remained unresolved in the latest confirmed reports.⁸¹

Peña resigns as Paraguay MPs advance impeachment over bank crisis

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