Paraguay’s central bank seized a major digital lender with close ties to President Santiago Peña early Tuesday, throwing the savings of millions of customers and hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds into limbo.
The Central Bank of Paraguay said that its board voted unanimously Monday to put Ueno Bank into resolution after its solvency ratio — a measure of a bank’s capital against its risk-weighted assets — fell below half the legal minimum.
Unlike bankruptcy proceedings in court, resolution allows regulators to transfer a failing bank’s deposits to more stable banks before its remaining assets are liquidated to repay creditors. Deposits are guaranteed up to 228 million guaraní, or about $38,000. The central bank’s preliminary estimate is that around 97% of depositors are fully covered. Above that limit, it hasn’t promised full repayment.
Ueno Bank currently serves more than 3 million customers, equivalent to roughly 60% of the adult population of the South American country. The bank says that it has brought over 1.2 million Paraguayans into the banking system for the first time since 2021.
Ueno Bank manages $800 million to $850 million in public money. That includes about $380 million invested by Paraguay’s state pension and health fund, known as IPS, according to the fund.
Also, its international presence is further supported by a USD 350 million bond issuance and more than USD 510 million in financing from international financial institutions and global investors.
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Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„To be honest I think that Sinaia, your conference, is much better then Davos.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below: