Paraguayan President Santiago Peña has resigned amid a deepening political and financial crisis triggered by the collapse of digital lender Ueno, which left millions of customers unable to access their accounts and shook investor confidence in one of South America’s most stable economies.
Peña stepped down on Thursday, hours before lawmakers were due to advance impeachment proceedings against him, after losing support within his conservative Colorado Party.
In a statement posted on social media, Peña said he would appear before the Senate impeachment proceedings to exercise his right to defend himself.
He said his decision to participate was not motivated by personal pride but by his responsibility to account for his actions and provide explanations to the Paraguayan people.
The president also called for a swift resolution to the crisis, particularly for customers who had been unable to access their accounts.
“Clarifying the facts and resolving the payments are obligations that must advance at the same time,” he said.
Peña’s resignation unsettled financial markets, with sovereign bond prices falling and the guarani weakening beyond 6,500 to the dollar before closing at 6,490, representing a decline of nearly five per cent on the day.
The crisis began earlier in the week when Paraguay’s central bank intervened in ueno, saying the rapidly expanding digital lender had breached minimum solvency requirements.
The fallout had already led to the resignation of the central bank governor and arrest warrants for eight ueno executives, who later surrendered to authorities.
Ueno grew from a small financial technology company into a mid-sized bank with about three million customers in a country of 6.5 million people. It also managed approximately $850 million in public funds, including money belonging to state institutions and pension schemes.
Its collapse left customers unable to access their accounts, placing pressure on the government as many Paraguayans depended on the lender for savings, payments and benefits.
Opposition lawmakers accused Peña of conflicts of interest, misuse of pension funds and protecting the bank from scrutiny. The president denied wrongdoing, maintaining that the matter was a regulatory issue that should be handled by the courts.
Peña, who was elected in 2023, had faced scrutiny over his previous links to Grupo Vazquez, the business group that owned ueno until March 2025.
He said he sold his stake in the group in March 2025 and had played no improper role in the bank’s affairs.
Meanwhile, Vice President Pedro Alliana, who is next in line to assume the presidency, has distanced himself from Peña in recent days and announced that he was suspending his own presidential ambitions until the financial crisis was resolved.
Ueno account holder Felipe Rodriguez accused the authorities of mishandling customers’ savings and called for those responsible to be held accountable.
