Paraguay President Santiago Peña resigns after bank collapse

Paraguay's President Santiago Peña has announced his resignation following a political crisis sparked by the collapse of a bank linked to him.

"I want to apologise to the people if at any point I failed," he said in a video message on social media. "It was never my intention to betray the trust you placed in me."

The crisis erupted after Ueno Bank entered an insolvency process, which froze all operations. Lawmakers accused Peña, who was a shareholder until last year in the company that owned the bank, of conflicts of interest and misconduct.

Peña has rejected suggestions of impropriety. His resignation comes after Paraguay's lower house of congress voted in favour of pursuing an impeachment trial.

In his video message posted on X, Peña said his resignation was to protect stability, social peace and democratic institutions.

Ueno Bank has said it has about three million customers, equivalent to about 60% of Paraguay's adult population.

It held pensions and some other public funds and, after its collapse earlier this week, millions could not access their accounts.

The central bank seized the digital lender, and people took to the streets protesting and demanding Peña's resignation.

A new president of the Central Bank of Paraguay has been appointed and Congress has approved a process to pay depositors.

Peña won election in 2023 representing Paraguay's ruling conservative Colorado Party, beating a centre-left challenger.