(3 November 2026 – Paraguay) Paraguay’s central bank has seized a major digital lender with close ties to President Santiago Peña.
The move to seize Ueno due to its deficient solvency ratio has triggered a political crisis and threatened the country’s reputation as an attractive destination for foreign direct investment (FDI).
The bank says it has three million customers, equivalent to 1 in 3 people in the South American country, and manages US$800 million in public money Including US$380 million invested by Paraguay’s state pension and health fund.
The takeover has left millions of customers savings and hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds in doubt.
“There was a great deal of flexibility in financial and banking rules that allowed this institution to expand very rapidly. There was preferential treatment, which raised a lot of suspicions” commented Paraguayan Economist Luis Rojas.