Paraguayan President Santiago Pena submitted his resignation on Thursday, 5 November, after the collapse of digital lender Ueno Bank plunged the country into a political and financial crisis. In a video posted on X, Pena said he was stepping down to preserve the country's stability, social peace and democratic institutions, as protests filled the capital, Asuncion, for a third day.

Ueno had grown in under five years from a small finance company into a bank serving around three million customers in a country of 6.5 million people. The Hindu BusinessLine reports that the central bank intervened after finding the bank had breached minimum solvency requirements, leaving customers unable to access their accounts. The bank held roughly 800 million dollars in public deposits, including money from the state pension and health funds, according to the Associated Press account carried by several outlets.

Impeachment vote and Senate trial

Pena's resignation came as lawmakers moved to impeach him. The lower house voted unanimously, 78-0, to approve impeachment charges and send them to the Senate, where a trial opened on Thursday night. Pena said he would appear to exercise his right to a defence, with his defence due on Friday morning. Removal would require the votes of 30 of the 45 senators.

Questions over Pena's links to the bank

Lawmakers had accused Pena of conflicts of interest, misuse of pension funds and institutional cover-ups linked to Ueno's collapse. BusinessWorld reports that Pena lost support within his own conservative Colorado Party before stepping down, and that he had been a business partner of the group behind the bank until March 2025. Eight senior Ueno executives have been detained, including founder Miguel Vazquez. Under Paraguay's constitution, Vice-President Pedro Alliana would succeed Pena for the remainder of the term, which runs to 2028, if Congress accepts the resignation.