By LCN Business Desk
A deposit guarantee is written per person. Paraguay's does not ask whether that person is an individual depositor or a binational hydroelectric utility shared with Brazil.
Itaipú Binacional held G.115,200 million and US$163.8 million at ueno bank on 3 November 2026, the day it closed. Outlets put the combined figure at about US$182.5 million. The guarantee reaches about US$38,600 of it.
How far does the guarantee reach a public body?
To 75 minimum wages, G.228,300,000, and the Fondo de Garantía de Depósitos applies that ceiling por persona física o jurídica.
That ceiling was set out in this newspaper on 4 November, when the Banco Central del Paraguay dissolved the bank. What the following week established is the other half of the sentence: a legal person is capped at the same figure as a natural one.
| Depositor | Held at ueno bank | Reached by the guarantee |
|---|---|---|
| Itaipú Binacional | G.115,200m and US$163.8m, about US$182.5m | about US$38,600 |
| Instituto de Previsión Social | US$355m to US$380m | about US$38,600 |
| A depositor with G.10,000,000 | about US$1,565 | all of it |
Ceiling: Fondo de Garantía de Depósitos, 75 minimum wages, as given by the Banco Central del Paraguay and reported by EFE on 6 November 2026. Dollar equivalents vary with the rate applied; France 24 gives the same ceiling as about US$37,000.
The central bank began paying a first group on Thursday 5 November, up to G.10,000,000 each, about US$1,565. A recipient must owe the bank nothing and must already hold an account at another bank. ueno reported 2.9 million clients at June, in a country of 6.1 million people.
How much public money is in there?
About US$850 million, and the pension fund is the largest single holder.
The Instituto de Previsión Social, Paraguay's social security institute, is reported at US$380 million by France 24 and at US$355 million by EFE, both on 6 November. EFE puts that at roughly 9 per cent of the institute's total portfolio and notes it also holds deposits for about 32,000 retirees. The two figures are 25 million dollars apart and neither has been withdrawn.
EFE also names ANDE, the state electricity administration, among the public institutions with funds in the bank.
Paraguayan law pays the state pension fund first out of what a failed bank's assets fetch. Priority in the queue and cover under the guarantee are different instruments. The first decides the order; the second decides how much arrives before the order matters.
What has Itaipú done about it?
Filed a criminal complaint and asked to be admitted to the case already running against the bank's directors.
Lawyer Óscar Adolfo Bogado Rolón filed for Itaipú on 7 November, sponsored by the entity's legal director Magnolia Mendoza Balmaceda. It asks the Unidad Especializada en Delitos Económicos y Anticorrupción of the Ministerio Público to admit Itaipú's querella into the existing case. It also covers binational resources transferred to the Fundación Parque Tecnológico Itaipú.
The complaint names no individual defendants. "ITAIPU Binacional informa que ha iniciado las acciones legales tendientes a la recuperación de sus fondos," the entity said.
Itaipú's own accounting puts those funds at 7.6 per cent of the resources it received by remittance from Brazil over the period it referenced.
What happened to the president who signed the payout law?
The Senate removed him four days later, and Paraguay had a new president and a new vice president inside 75 minutes.
Santiago Peña promulgated Ley 7745 on 4 November, letting the guarantee fund advance up to 40 minimum wages to depositors. The Cámara de Diputados impeached him 78-0 the next day.
| Time, 6 November 2026 | Event |
|---|---|
| 18:26 | Peña presented his resignation in a social media message |
| 18:55 | The Senate removed him, 44 votes, for mal desempeño de funciones |
| 19:45 | Pedro Alliana sworn in as President |
| 20:05 | Peña placed under house arrest on a prosecutor's order |
| 20:10 | Congress elected Antonio Barrios Vice President |
Chronology as published by ABC Color, Asunción, 6 November 2026.
Much of the international reporting says Peña resigned. The Paraguayan record is that he resigned at 18:26 and was removed at 18:55 regardless. His defence argued the trial had no object once the resignation was in; the Senate did not accept it and voted. Senators Carlos Núñez and Éver Villalba argued against accepting it on the ground that it would carry the privileges of a senator for life.
"Así como nosotros le pusimos, nosotros le vamos a sacar," said Basilio Núñez, President of Congress.
Where does Guyana's National Insurance Scheme keep its money?
About a third of its investment portfolio sat in bank deposits at the most recent allocation it has published, and Guyana's deposit insurance does not cover pension funds.
The Scheme's 2019 annual report, laid in Parliament, puts its investments at G$27,450,136,000 and the portion held as deposits with banks and other financial institutions at G$9,275,892,000. That is 33.8 per cent. The rest sat in equities at G$7,166,826,000, Government of Guyana debentures at G$3,905,957,000, treasury bills at G$2,929,936,000 and overseas government debentures at G$72,181,000. The Scheme's 2023 report puts total investments at G$31,774,154,000. Its audited accounts are reproduced there as scanned pages, so the allocation above remains the most recent one set out in type.
| Fund | Portfolio in bank deposits | Spread |
|---|---|---|
| Instituto de Previsión Social, Paraguay | about 9 per cent, per EFE | in ueno bank alone |
| National Insurance Scheme, Guyana, 2019 | 33.8 per cent | across banks and other financial institutions |
Sources: NIS Annual Report 2019, laid in the National Assembly; EFE, 6 November 2026. The Guyana figure is a total across institutions, not an exposure to any one bank.
The two are not the same measurement, and the difference runs in Guyana's favour on concentration: the Paraguayan figure is what one bank held, the Guyanese figure is what every bank held between them. What the two funds share is the instrument. Both put a substantial part of a national pension portfolio into bank deposits rather than into paper the state itself issues.
Where they part is cover. Section 36 of Guyana's Deposit Insurance Act 2018 makes pension fund deposits ineligible for protection, along with the deposits of central and local government. Paraguay's ceiling reaches about US$38,600 of a pension fund's holding. Guyana's reaches none of it.
What does a public body take from this?
That a guarantee ceiling written per person is the whole of the cover, however large the person is.
Paraguay's deadline for the full 75 minimum wages runs to 17 November. It now sits with a government sworn in on 6 November, and the largest claims on the estate belong to the pension fund of a country of 6.1 million people and to a utility it shares with Brazil.
EFE does not say the public money is lost. It does not say it will be recovered in full either. What is settled is the arithmetic a treasurer can do before a bank fails rather than after: count what sits in one institution, and read the ceiling as the number that applies to the whole of it.
The entities
- ueno bank is the Paraguayan lender dissolved by the Banco Central del Paraguay on 2 November 2026, with 2.9 million clients reported at June. - Itaipú Binacional is the hydroelectric entity run jointly by Paraguay and Brazil, which filed a criminal complaint on 7 November 2026. - Instituto de Previsión Social is Paraguay's social security institute, reported at US$355m to US$380m of exposure. - Fondo de Garantía de Depósitos is the deposit guarantee fund, covering 75 minimum wages per persona física o jurídica. - Banco Central del Paraguay is the central bank that dissolved the lender and is paying the first group of depositors. - Santiago Peña was removed as President of Paraguay by the Senate on 6 November 2026. - Pedro Alliana was sworn in as President that evening. - Ministerio Público is Paraguay's public prosecution service, whose economic crimes and anti-corruption unit holds the case. - ANDE is Paraguay's state electricity administration, named by EFE among the public institutions with funds in the bank. - National Insurance Scheme is Guyana's social security scheme, whose 2019 annual report was laid in the National Assembly. - Deposit Insurance Act 2018 is the Guyanese statute whose section 36 makes pension fund deposits ineligible for protection.
What the title card says
- Headline: Paraguay's deposit guarantee stops at about US$38,600, and Itaipú had US$182.5 million in the bank. - Guarantee ceiling: 75 minimum wages, G.228,300,000, about US$38,600, per persona física o jurídica. - Itaipú's holding at 3 November 2026: G.115,200 million and US$163.8 million, about US$182.5 million. - Instituto de Previsión Social: US$380 million per France 24, US$355 million per EFE, both 6 November 2026. - Total public funds reported at the bank: about US$850 million. - First payouts from 5 November 2026: up to G.10,000,000, about US$1,565. - ueno clients reported at June 2026: 2.9 million, in a country of 6.1 million. - Senate vote removing Santiago Peña on 6 November 2026: 44. - Deadline for the full guarantee: 17 November 2026. - Guyana's National Insurance Scheme, 2019: G$9,275,892,000 of G$27,450,136,000 of investments held as deposits with banks and other financial institutions, 33.8 per cent. - Guyana's National Insurance Scheme, 2023: total investments G$31,774,154,000.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Paraguay's deposit guarantee cover?
75 minimum wages, G.228,300,000, about US$38,600, applied per persona física o jurídica. A company, a public institution and an individual are all capped at the same figure.
How much did Itaipú have in ueno bank?
G.115,200 million and US$163.8 million as at 3 November 2026, the day the bank closed. Outlets put the combined figure at about US$182.5 million.
How much public money in total?
About US$850 million is reported. The Instituto de Previsión Social is the largest single holder, at US$355 million per EFE or US$380 million per France 24, both figures published on 6 November 2026.
Was Santiago Peña removed or did he resign?
Both, in that order. He presented his resignation at 18:26 on 6 November and the Senate removed him at 18:55 by 44 votes, having declined to accept the resignation as ending the trial.
Does Guyana have the same exposure?
Guyana's National Insurance Scheme held G$9,275,892,000 of its G$27,450,136,000 investment portfolio as deposits with banks and other financial institutions in its 2019 annual report, 33.8 per cent, spread across institutions rather than in one. Section 36 of the Deposit Insurance Act 2018 makes pension fund deposits ineligible for protection.
Is the public money lost?
EFE does not say so, and does not confirm full recovery either. The guarantee reaches about US$38,600 of each holding; anything above that depends on what the estate returns.