Ueno bank Paraguay: what happened and what foreign depositors should do

Paraguay's Central Bank placed ueno bank into resolution on 2 November 2026 and froze all deposits. What the deposit guarantee means for expats, foreign-owned companies and investors, when it is paid and how to keep your money working in Paraguay.

In detail

Paraguay draws foreigners with low taxes, accessible residency and dollar accounts, so the fall of the country's largest bank by clients hits expats and investors directly. On 2 November 2026 ueno bank was placed into resolution. Deposits are frozen, but the law protects foreign depositors on equal terms with Paraguayans, and money above the guarantee has a clear legal path back. Here is what that means for your personal savings, your company and your next steps.

What happened to ueno bank

The board of the Central Bank of Paraguay voted unanimously on 2 November 2026 and announced the decision the next day. After accounting adjustments ordered by the Superintendency of Banks, ueno bank's solvency ratio fell below 50% of the legal minimum. That is the trigger for resolution under Law No. 2334 of 2003, Paraguay's law on deposit guarantees and bank resolution.

Resolution is a special procedure that removes a failing bank from the market before bankruptcy and puts depositors first. Interim administrators appointed by the supervisor now run the bank, shareholders and directors have lost their powers, and no deposit can be withdrawn, transferred or spent until the Central Bank authorises specific operations. As recently as October 2026, ueno bank described itself as the country's leading bank by clients, with 3 million people, 2.4 million debit cards and 1.1 million credit cards.

Why the bank failed: related-party lending and a run on liquidity

For an investor, the cause matters more than the headline. On 5 June 2026 the Central Bank ordered ueno bank by official letter to bring its loans to companies of its own group within legal limits. New demands followed on 24 July 2026, and in October the bank stated publicly that it had complied on time.

It was not enough. A leak of confidential information sped up withdrawals and drained liquidity, the cash a bank can pay out the moment clients ask for it. The supervisor's review required extra provisions for weak loan files and for IT spending without full documentation, and after these adjustments capital fell below half of the required level. The Central Bank will report signs of possible fraud to the competent authorities and investigate the responsibility of management and shareholders separately. The regulator will not rescue the bank in its old form.

Are foreign depositors covered?

The guarantee does not depend on citizenship or residency. Paraguay's Deposit Guarantee Fund covers 75 monthly minimum wages per depositor per bank. With the minimum wage at ₲3,044,000 ($509), that is ₲228,300,000, or $38,211 at the 3 November 2026 rate of ₲5,974.62 per dollar.

• Expats with permanent residency, temporary residents and non-residents are covered on the same terms as citizens.
• Dollar deposits are protected exactly like guaraní deposits, within the same limit.
• All your accounts at ueno bank are added up: savings, current accounts and term deposits count as one balance.
• A joint account is split equally between its holders.
• Each company is a separate depositor with its own limit.
• Deposits securing foreign trade operations and court deposits are covered in full.
• Deposits of the bank's directors, managers and related parties, sham deposits and the bank's own mortgage bonds are excluded.

The holder is whoever appears in the depositor register, on the signature card or on the deposit certificate on 2 November 2026. A foreign owner and their Paraguayan company therefore have two separate limits. If you held $30,000 personally and the company held $50,000, your personal money is fully covered, while the company is covered up to $38,211 and keeps a claim for the remaining $11,789.

When the guarantee is paid

The law gives 15 calendar days from the decision, so the deadline is 17 November 2026. The Central Bank's board can extend it by another 15 days, to 2 December 2026.

Expect a transfer rather than a cash payout. The law prefers moving guaranteed deposits, together with assets, to one or more solvent banks selected by tender: the money appears at the new bank without any signature from the client and stays guaranteed there. The second option is the same transfer combined with units of a securitisation, securities backed by the bank's loan book. A direct payout is the exception. The Central Bank will announce the procedure through its official channels only. No one can speed up your payment for a fee, and no official will ask for your passwords or codes.

Balances above $38,211: how large depositors are paid

Money above the guarantee is not insured, but it is not written off either. The supervisor first offsets assets against liabilities and builds an exclusion balance, a package of the bank's assets transferred to sound banks together with the deposits. Guaranteed deposits and pension system money come first in that package.

If the assets are not enough to repay everyone in full, payments beyond the guarantee follow the linear increment rule: every depositor receives the same additional amount rather than the same percentage of their balance. Whatever remains goes to forced liquidation in court, where depositors above the guarantee are paid first after the bank's employees.

Take a depositor with $100,000 (₲597,462,000) in one name. $38,211 comes through the guarantee within the legal deadline, and the remaining $61,789 is recovered through the exclusion balance, the linear increment and, if needed, liquidation. That last stage takes time, so collect contracts, statements and deposit certificates now. Safe deposit boxes and trust assets administered by the bank stay outside the exclusion balance because they never belonged to the bank.

Foreign-owned companies: guarantees, payroll and payments

For a company the frozen balance is only part of the problem. Under the resolution law, guarantees and sureties issued by ueno bank ended on the first day of the procedure. If one of them secured an office lease, a tender bid or a supply contract, the counterparty will ask for a new guarantee from another bank. Payroll, card acquiring and supplier payments have to move now as well.

It is a good moment to review the whole setup of your Paraguayan entity. Structures and incorporation are covered in our guide to doing business in Paraguay, and rates for companies and residents on our page about taxes in Paraguay.

Loans, cards, salaries and pensions

Set-off works in both directions: before the guarantee is paid, all of a client's debts to the bank are treated as due and deducted from their deposits. Any loan balance left after that is repaid in the usual instalments to the account details announced officially. Pensions keep arriving: 32,000 pensioners were paid through ueno bank, and the Social Security Institute (IPS), Paraguay's state pension fund, pays them on schedule, with the year-end bonus from 17 November 2026, while opening accounts for them at another bank.

Where to open a new account in Paraguay as a foreigner

Any private bank or finance company in the Deposit Guarantee Fund gives the same protection, and the limit applies per bank. With more than $38,211, spread the money across two or three banks so that all of it is covered. The state-owned bank is not a member of the fund.

Which bank will open an account for you depends on your passport, your residency status, the amount and the source of funds. Without help, opening an account as a foreigner takes weeks: banks ask for documents one at a time, and a refusal sends you back to the start. We choose the bank for your profile and handle the process until the account is open: a personal account in Paraguay for non-residents or a business account in Paraguay for your company.

Residency makes banking easier. Temporary residency in Paraguay is the first step, and permanent residency in Paraguay comes with a local ID card. Money from abroad reaches the new account by ordinary transfer, as explained in our guide on how to send money to Paraguay.

What foreigners should do now

1. Skip the branch: no cash is paid while deposit operations are suspended.
2. Download statements and screenshots of balances, loans and cards on 2 November 2026.
3. Open new accounts for yourself and your company, ideally at two banks.
4. Move salary, rent, utility debits and subscriptions off ueno bank cards and accounts.
5. Keep paying loans on time to the official account details.
6. If your balance exceeds $38,211, gather the documents for the claim on the excess.
7. Follow only Central Bank announcements: the dates to watch are 17 November and 2 December 2026.

Is Paraguay still safe for your money?

The Central Bank calls ueno bank an isolated case: the problem came from one bank's lending to related companies and its loss of liquidity, not from the system. The Deposit Guarantee Fund was created by the 2003 law and is financed by quarterly contributions from the banks themselves.

For an investor the lesson is about structure rather than the country: keep each bank balance within the guarantee, hold a backup account and keep part of your capital outside Paraguay. If you are still weighing the move, read our articles on moving to Paraguay, the cost of living in Paraguay and the choice between Paraguay and Uruguay.

Our services for foreigners in Paraguay

We open personal and business accounts at Paraguayan banks, register companies and guide residency applications from start to finish.

A second account outside Paraguay

A second account in another country covers the worst case: if a bank in Paraguay closes, your spending and your business keep running. How to choose the country and the bank is explained in our guide to opening a bank account abroad, banks for private clients by country are on the personal accounts page, and new places to live are in our overview of residence permits abroad.

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