Paraguay shuts down Ueno Bank, leaving nearly 60% of the country's adult population unable to access their accounts.

Paraguay’s central bank shut down Ueno Bank, leaving roughly 2.9 million customers unable to access their accounts, use cards or withdraw cash. Salaries, pensions and savings are caught up in the freeze. The bank held around $850 million in public funds, including about $380 million belonging to the state pension and health fund. Customers were left lining up and protesting in Asunción, demanding access to their money. The bank’s collapse also reached the presidential palace. President Santiago Peña had business ties to Ueno’s parent company, Grupo Vázquez, until 2025. Central bank chief Carlos Carvallo, whom Peña appointed in 2023, previously ran Ueno. Peña asked Carvallo to resign, and he did.

BREAKING: A major bank in Paraguay has failed, leaving nearly 60% of the country's adult population unable to access their accounts.
Ueno Bank has around 3 MILLION customers and $2.8 BILLION in deposits, including hundreds of millions in public funds.
The central bank has taken… pic.twitter.com/zQEN49xL17
— Bull Theory (@BullTheoryio) November 3, 2026

Ueno CEO Miguel Vázquez turned himself in to police, while seven other executives were also arrested. Prosecutors are investigating suspected financial crimes. Opposition lawmakers are calling for Peña’s impeachment, and protesters have demanded his resignation. Peña has denied wrongdoing. The bank says deposits are covered up to roughly $38,000 per customer, but that does little to help people who cannot get to their money right now. Even the state pension fund has $380 million tied up in the bank.

The last time Paraguay suffered a banking crisis in 1995, 15 of its 19 locally owned banks eventually closed or were absorbed by other institutions. The central bank says Ueno is an isolated failure.