Ueno Bank liquidation triggers political crisis and impeachment move in Paraguay

Paraguay has plunged into political turmoil following the central bank takeover and liquidation of Ueno Bank, Euronews and MercoPress reported. Euronews and WION reported that President Santiago Peña now faces an impeachment effort as millions of citizens protest. MercoPress reported that the central bank took over the financial institution and froze its deposits. As FTMQ News reported earlier, regulators decided to shut down the bank after its capital adequacy ratio fell below half of the legal minimum. [1][4][5][9]

The operational failure began in the early hours of Tuesday, 3 November, at around 03:24, when Ueno Bank's mobile application stopped displaying balances to users, Euronews reported. Bloomberg.com also reported that customer accounts vanished just before dawn during the unexpected shutdown. Euronews reported that nearly three million customers were affected by the sudden blackout. The central bank of Paraguay subsequently posted a statement on social media confirming that the institution was placed under intervention. [1][3][4]

The accounting black hole at Ueno Bank is wiping out public funds and preventing thousands of customers from accessing their deposits, according to Euronews. As FTMQ News reported earlier, the shutdown froze about 380 million dollars in public social security funds that are now awaiting recovery. Disruption Banking reported that the president of Paraguay's central bank resigned following the collapse, while Dealroom reported that the digital lender has links to the Paraguayan president. [1][2][6][9]

Ueno Bank was a Paraguayan bank headquartered in Asunción that operated primarily through digital payment platforms, according to Wikipedia. Euronews reported that the institution managed state funds worth millions and had grown at breakneck speed during its three years of existence. Euronews described the ongoing fallout as Paraguay's worst institutional crisis in years. [1][7]