By LCN Business Desk
A business that kept working capital at ueno bank could have read the bank's own investor page on 30 October and found a lender that exceeded every regulatory minimum it quoted. Three days later the central bank dissolved it. Both releases are still on the site. They use different capital measures.
What did the bank publish about its own capital?
Three figures, for periods that overlap, in releases eleven days apart.
| Date published | Measure | Figure | Stated minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 2026 (Fitch report, as the bank describes it) | Fitch Core Capital, end-2025, before deducting intangibles | 15.2% | not stated |
| 19 October 2026 | Fitch Core Capital, end-2025 and Q2 2026, after deducting intangibles | 10.3% | 13% to regain a stable outlook |
| 29 October 2026 | Total regulatory capital, current | 13.8% | 12% |
| 29 October 2026 | Total regulatory capital, after the plan | 15.9% | 12% |
| 29 October 2026 | Tier 1, current | 11.7% | 8% |
| 29 October 2026 | Tier 1, after the plan | 14.9% | 8% |
Figures as published by ueno bank. Fitch Core Capital deducts intangible assets from reported equity. Tier 1 and total regulatory capital do not.
Fitch Core Capital for the close of 2025 reads 15.2 per cent in the March report and 10.3 per cent in the October one, 4.9 points lower. The bank's 19 October release gives the reason: the March figure "no contemplaba la deducción de los intangibles". Fitch deducts intangible assets because it does not count them as capital available to absorb losses. A reported figure moving on the treatment of one line rather than on performance is not confined to Paraguay: Argentine household delinquency held at 12.8 per cent in June while part of the improvement was written off the books.
The 29 October release uses neither figure. It leads on Tier 1 and total regulatory capital, against minimums of 8 and 12 per cent, and both current figures clear them. Against the 13 per cent of Fitch Core Capital the agency named in October, the bank stood 2.7 points short.
What did the rating agency actually do?
It kept the grade and changed the direction.
Fitch Ratings acted on 16 October 2026 and the bank published the outcome on 19 October. The BB international rating in local and foreign currency was maintained, and the viability rating held at bb. In the same review the agency moved the outlook from stable to negative, which the bank attributed to pressure on adjusted capital from balance-sheet growth and the weight of intangibles.
The same note records the strengths. Reported non-performing loans stood at 0.6 per cent at June 2026 with provision coverage of 345.2 per cent, and operating result over risk-weighted assets rose to 3.7 per cent from 3.5 per cent at the close of 2025. Deposits remained the main source of funding. Fitch noted the bank held the largest customer base in the system and had been designated systemically important.
Fitch set three conditions for restoring the stable outlook: moderating balance-sheet growth, reducing intangible assets, and recovering and holding Fitch Core Capital above 13 per cent.
What is missing from the investor page?
Two of the three 2026 quarterly statements.
| Quarter | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| March | filed | filed | filed |
| June | filed | filed | not filed |
| September | filed | filed | not filed |
ueno bank's investor section as at 6 November 2026. The 2026 June and September entries carry a dash.
The 29 October plan counts "USD 54 millones de resultados acumulados al 30 de septiembre" in its arithmetic. September is one of the two dashes. The newest quarter a depositor could open closed on 31 March, seven months before the bank did.
Who sat on the board?
Nine people, and the bank's own listing gives their offices.
The team page names Juan Manuel Gustale as Presidente and Federico Miguel Vazquez Villasanti as Vicepresidente 1°, with Diana Leticia Mongelós Gonzalez as Vicepresidente 2°. Alejandro Gómez Abente, Waldo Emilio Roberto, Carlos Impagliatelli Bareiro and Diego Fernando Duarte Schussmuller are listed as Directores Titulares, and Guillermo Vazquez Muniagurria and Silvia Rosa Susana Murto de Mendez as Directores Suplentes.
Paraguayan outlets have described Vazquez Villasanti both as chief executive and as first vice-president. The company's own listing gives first vice-president.
Where does the money for the plan sit?
Half of it had not arrived.
The 29 October release puts USD 50 million as a contribution from the controlling shareholder, U Holdings S.à r.l., "previsto para noviembre de 2026", and a further USD 50 million as a share programme aimed exclusively at Paraguayan private investors, with filings begun at the central bank and implementation expected within 60 days subject to authorisation. Neither tranche was complete when the bank was dissolved four days later.
The release also sets the plan beside USD 17 million contributed by OTP Bank in May 2026 and the September accumulated result, putting total 2026 capital strengthening above USD 170 million, and records a USD 350 million bond issue and more than USD 510 million in financing from global financial institutions and investors. Those last two figures describe creditors who sit outside Paraguay's depositor guarantee.
What does a business do with this?
Check which capital measure a published ratio uses before treating it as a solvency test.
The ceiling, the queue and the dates that govern what a depositor gets back are set out in our 4 November report on the resolution, and the political standing of the institutions that must execute it in our 5 November report on the 17 November deadline. Neither position has changed.
A company choosing where to hold working capital will often check a bank's published capital ratio against the regulator's minimum. On this record that check passed on 30 October. The ratio that did not clear its threshold was Fitch Core Capital, published by the same bank eleven days earlier and measured against a rating agency's condition rather than a regulatory floor. The release named the regulatory minimums and not that condition.
What is not established here?
The resolution itself. The Banco Central del Paraguay's resolution of 2 November is not quoted here. Its findings are carried consistently across Paraguayan outlets and reconcile to the arithmetic: the board acted unanimously after the bank's indice de solvencia fell below half the required minimum, under Ley 2.334/03, with up to 15 days to complete the exclusion balance.
Whether the bank's ratios and the regulator's index are the same measure. The bank quotes Tier 1 and total regulatory capital against minimums of 8 and 12 per cent. The central bank's finding is expressed as an indice de solvencia below half the required minimum. Ley 861/96 sets Paraguay's capital adequacy requirement and reconciles the two. That reconciliation is not made here.
Whether the June and September 2026 statements were filed elsewhere. They are dashes on the bank's own investor page. The central bank's boletin estadistico y financiero covers the banking system and would carry them. Whether it does is not established.
The criminal case. The directorships above are from the company's own listing. Detentions, arrest warrants and asset embargoes have been reported by Paraguayan outlets and are not asserted here; no filing or prosecutorial statement is cited.
Whether U Holdings S.à r.l. transferred any of the USD 50 million. The release describes it as planned for November 2026. Luxembourg Business Registers publishes the company's filings, and the accounts covering 2026 are not yet due.
The entities
- ueno bank is the Paraguayan digital lender dissolved by the Banco Central del Paraguay on 2 November 2026, with more than three million customers on its own figures. - Banco Central del Paraguay is the central bank that dissolved the lender on 2 November 2026. A regulator acting on an institution's financial condition is the same step the Central Bank of Barbados took against Zeemoney in May 2026. - Fitch Ratings maintained the bank's BB rating on 16 October 2026 and moved the outlook to negative in the same review. - U Holdings S.à r.l. is named in the bank's own release as the controlling shareholder, with USD 50 million planned for November 2026. - OTP Bank is named as having contributed USD 17 million in May 2026. - Federico Miguel Vazquez Villasanti is listed on the bank's own team page as Vicepresidente 1°. - Juan Manuel Gustale is listed on the same page as Presidente.
What the title card says
- Headline: the bank published three different capital numbers in eight months, and the lowest was the one that deducted intangibles. - Fitch Core Capital after deducting intangibles, end-2025 and Q2 2026: 10.3 per cent. - The same measure as first reported in March 2026, before that deduction: 15.2 per cent. - Total regulatory capital stated on 29 October: 13.8 per cent, against a stated minimum of 12. - Date Fitch moved the outlook to negative: 16 October 2026. - Date the capitalisation plan was announced: 29 October 2026. - Date the central bank dissolved the bank: 2 November 2026. - 2026 quarterly statements on the investor page: one of three.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which capital figure was the lowest?
Fitch Core Capital at 10.3 per cent, for the close of 2025 and the second quarter of 2026. That measure deducts intangible assets from reported equity. The bank published it on 19 October 2026.
Why did the same measure read 15.2 per cent earlier?
The bank's release states that the figure reported in March 2026 for the close of 2025 did not deduct intangibles. The deduction accounts for the difference.
Did Fitch downgrade the bank?
No. On 16 October 2026 it maintained the BB rating and the bb viability rating, and changed the outlook from stable to negative.
What did the 29 October plan involve?
USD 100 million: USD 50 million from the controlling shareholder U Holdings S.à r.l. planned for November 2026, and a USD 50 million share programme for Paraguayan private investors, with filings begun at the central bank. Neither was complete when the bank was dissolved.
Is this about what depositors get back?
No. The guarantee ceiling, the order of payment and the 17 November deadline are in our reports of 4 and 5 November. This report covers what the bank published about its own capital before the dissolution.