Paraguay refunds Ueno depositors, arrests banking superintendent
The Central Bank says every eligible saver has been partly repaid, while the official who supervises banks is detained in an inquiry that has already jailed a former president.
Paraguay's Central Bank said on Wednesday that it had returned part of the savings of every eligible Ueno Bank depositor, after the digital lender's collapse locked customers out of their accounts and set off protests across the country.
The Central Bank gave no figure for how much each depositor received or how many accounts were covered, France 24 reported. France 24 said the bank's takeover on 3 November triggered the demonstrations and disrupted the economy.
The political fallout reached the former president. Santiago Peña was impeached and arrested, according to France 24, which described him in its video report as linked to Ueno and in its written report as accused of directing government funds to the bank.
The refund announcement came on Wednesday. The following day, the Superintendent of Banks, Holger Insfrán, was arrested as part of the investigation into the collapse, MercoPress reported, citing prosecution sources quoted by the EFE news agency. The charges against him have not been disclosed.
Peña and Carlos Carvallo, a former president of the Central Bank, are already in pre-trial detention, MercoPress reported, again citing the prosecution account carried by EFE.
The superintendent of banks heads the office that supervises Paraguay's lenders, which places the regulator's own chief among those detained in the inquiry.
Global Finance Magazine reported that the Ueno failure will cost the Central Bank $347m.
Paraguay lawmakers move to impeach Peña over bank collapse
The central bank placed ueno, a digital lender with about 3 million customers, into resolution and froze accounts, prompting protests in Asunción.
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