Paraguay's central bank seized Ueno Bank.^[1] It began resolution proceedings on 3 November.^[2] That day the bank's customers could not withdraw their money.^[3] One week on, the country has a new president. Santiago Peña was removed from the presidency over the crisis.^[4] His successor, Pedro Alliana, has pledged to recover the pension funds caught in the bank.^[5][6] Read together, reports from four outlets show a failure that moved from a balance sheet to the head of state in days, along a line of personal ties that was on the public record before the bank fell. The bank Ueno had about three million customers.^[7] It was established in 1976 and received a full banking licence only in 2023.^[8][9] Three years after getting that licence it was in resolution. Its solvency ratio had fallen below half the legal minimum.^[10] When the central bank placed it into resolution, customer accounts were frozen.^[11][12] The public money The bank managed $800 million of public funds.^[13] Around that amount is now at risk.^[14] This is the money Alliana has promised to recover, and it includes pension funds. The loans to its own owner Ueno loaned $146 million to companies tied to its owner, Grupo Vazquez.^[15] The president's ties The bank had close ties to Peña.^[16] Until March 2025 he held a stake in Grupo Vazquez, the bank's parent company.^[17] The tie ran through the regulator as well. Peña appointed a former head of Ueno, Carlos Carvallo, as chief of the central bank.^[18] Carvallo has resigned from that position.^[19] So the institution that had to decide whether to seize the bank was led by a man who used to run it, appointed by a president who used to part-own its parent. How the presidency ended Peña faced impeachment after the collapse.^[20] He requested a 72-hour extension for his defence.^[21] The reports differ on the manner of his going. Al Jazeera reported that he announced his resignation.^[22] Euronews reported that he was removed from the presidency. Both agree that the bank is the reason he is no longer in office. The criminal cases Twenty-seven Ueno officials and associates were charged with breach of trust and attempted fraud.^[23] Six executives were ordered detained pending trial.^[24] Earlier, prosecutors had ordered the arrest of eight senior staff.^[25] These are charges. No one has been convicted. Paraguay's attorney general opened three criminal investigations into the crisis.^[26] Prosecutors also plan to investigate Joshua Abreu.^[27] Abreu is an evangelical pastor and a former securities regulator.^[28] He served as a director at the Ueno brokerage, Ueno Casa de Bolsa.^[29] He resigned from the securities regulator in January 2025.^[30] He has not been charged. The depositors Congress passed a state-guaranteed fund to repay depositors.^[31] Nearly 95 percent of Ueno's savers have received compensation payments.^[32] That leaves the public funds as the larger unresolved sum. Ordinary savers are mostly paid. The state's own $800 million is not. The jobs Up to 7,000 people lost their jobs because of the crisis, across several countries.^[33] The precedent Paraguay has been here before. It went through a prolonged banking crisis from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s.^[34] What comes next Three things are open: the trials of the 27 charged, the three investigations, and whether the new president can do what he has promised with the pension money.