Paraguay’s lower house voted 78 to 0 to impeach President Santiago Peña minutes after he announced his resignation over the collapse of a bank tied to his government.
The backstory: Ueno Bank grew from an obscure finance company into a lender claiming more than 60% of Paraguay’s adults as customers in under five years, sponsoring the national soccer team and plastering its name on the main stadium.
- The central bank seized Ueno on Tuesday after corrected books showed its capital had fallen below half the legal minimum.
By the numbers: Ueno held roughly $800 million in public deposits, about a quarter of its total, including money from the state pension and health fund and the operators of Paraguay’s hydroelectric dams.
- The guaraní fell nearly 4% against the dollar on Thursday, taking its loss for the week to almost 7%.
Between the lines: Peña held a stake until last year in a company linked to Ueno, and he appointed the president of Ueno’s predecessor firm to run the central bank, the agency charged with supervising it.
What they're saying: "I want to apologize to the people if I have failed them at any point," Peña said in a video posted to X. "It was never my intention to betray the trust they placed in me."
Why it matters: A state guarantee fund must repay stranded depositors within five business days and insures about $36,000 per customer, which the central bank says covers the full balance of an estimated 97% of clients.
