What happened
Shortly after 3 a.m. on Tuesday 3 November, the Central Bank of Paraguay (BCP) announced that it had placed ueno bank into "resolution". Resolution is the legal procedure used when a bank can no longer stand on its own: the regulator takes control, freezes operations and organises an orderly exit. The board had decided unanimously the day before, after accounting adjustments pushed ueno's solvency ratio below half of the legal minimum. The solvency ratio measures the capital a bank holds against the risks it carries.
The app, the cards and the branches stopped working. Eight people linked to the bank were detained, and the head of the central bank resigned.
Next week, from 11 to 13 November, about 1,000 Brazilian companies are expected at the Expo Paraguay Brasil in Hernandarias, next to the Itaipu dam, looking for partners, suppliers and places to invest. Many of them are weighing Paraguay as a production base for the Mercosur. Ueno is a reminder that choosing a country also means choosing a bank, and that this question is rarely asked in time.