MercoPress https://en.mercopress.com/ South Atlantic News Agency en Copyright 2026, MercoPress. https://en.mercopress.com/web/img/en/mercopress-logo.gif MercoPress http://en.mercopress.com/ <![CDATA[Paraguay’s banking superintendent arrested in the Ueno Bank investigation]]> Insfrán was named in a criminal complaint expanded by opposition lawmakers last week, alongside the economy minister and other officials Paraguay’s Superintendent of Banks, Holger Insfrán, was arrested on Thursday as part of the investigation into the collapse of Ueno Bank, which has already led to the pre-trial detention of former President Santiago Peña and former Central Bank president Carlos Carvallo, according to prosecution sources cited by the EFE news agency. The charges against him have not been disclosed.

]]> Thu, 12 Nov 2026 11:20:00 GMT <![CDATA[Lost savings and broken trust: life for those hit by Ueno Bank’s closure]]> Marlyn López, a 43-year-old university lecturer, lives in Piribebuy, about 75 kilometres from Asunción For nearly three million Paraguayans, November 3 began with a message on their phone screens: “We cannot display your balance.” Early that morning, Paraguay’s Central Bank took over Ueno Bank over a critical solvency problem and froze its deposits. A week later, with President Santiago Peña removed from office and in pre-trial detention, many of those affected still have no access to their money and say they have also lost faith in the country’s institutions.

]]> Mon, 09 Nov 2026 03:07:00 GMT <![CDATA[Big Tech loses a trillion dollars in a day after the Democratic win]]> Trump blamed the opposition. “The Stock Market suffered one of the Worst Days in History based on the results of the Election. Remember, it wasn’t Republicans,” he wrote on social media Shares in major technology companies plunged on Wall Street on Thursday and in Asian markets on Friday, in a sell-off that wiped hundreds of billions of dollars of market value, on fears that the Democratic victory in the US midterm elections will slow the expansion of data centres and artificial intelligence. The so-called magnificent seven, including Apple, Nvidia and Tesla, together lost a trillion dollars in a single session, according to the BBC.

]]> Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:51:00 GMT <![CDATA[Paraguay’s Santiago Peña tenders his resignation, but Congress presses ahead with impeachment]]> “I have decided to submit my resignation from the Presidency of the Republic. I do so with the stability of our country, social peace and the need to preserve our democratic institutions,” Peña said Paraguayan President Santiago Peña tendered his resignation on Thursday, cornered by the collapse of Ueno Bank, but minutes later the Chamber of Deputies unanimously voted to impeach him, in an attempt to prevent him from taking up a lifetime Senate seat with immunity from prosecution once he leaves office. The final decision rests with the Senate.

]]> Thu, 05 Nov 2026 22:12:00 GMT <![CDATA[Paraguay seeks to return part of the savings frozen at Ueno Bank within 24 hours]]> Paraguay’s Senate on Wednesday approved a reform of the deposit guarantee law that would allow customers of Ueno Bank, taken over by the Central Bank on Tuesday, to receive an advance of up to 40 minimum wages, about 121 million guaraníes, within 24 hours of the bank’s resolution. The bill now goes to the Chamber of Deputies, which was due to consider it on Thursday.

]]> Thu, 05 Nov 2026 07:08:00 GMT <![CDATA[Paraguay takes over Ueno Bank, with 3 million customers, and freezes its deposits]]> “We proceeded to close the entity; therefore, neither the app, nor the cards, nor any service of the entity is active,” said a member of the Central Bank’s board. Photo: EFE/ Juan Pablo Pino Paraguay’s Central Bank on Tuesday took over Ueno Bank, one of the country’s largest banks, after its solvency ratio fell below 50% of the legal minimum, and froze all its assets and liabilities, including the savings of some 3 million customers and more than US$800 million in public funds. The bank immediately suspended all its services.

]]> Wed, 04 Nov 2026 08:27:00 GMT <![CDATA[Markets react to the US midterms: the dollar falls and gold rises]]> The dollar index, which measures its value against a basket of currencies, remained in negative territory near 101.50 The US dollar weakened against major currencies on Wednesday morning and gold rose more than 2% to above US$4,000 an ounce as markets assessed the Democratic victory in the midterm elections, which will give the opposition control of both chambers of Congress for the final two years of Donald Trump’s presidency.

]]> Wed, 04 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMT <![CDATA[Hackers steal US$6.3 billion in crypto from Binance in the sector’s biggest-ever heist]]> The Secret Service, the federal agency responsible for financial crimes, said it was “working around the clock” with the private sector “to identify, freeze, trace, and recover” the funds Hackers stole about US$6.3 billion in cryptocurrency from Binance, the world’s largest digital asset exchange, in the biggest theft in the sector’s history, which the US Secret Service is investigating with other agencies. Blockchain analytics firms point to a hacking group linked to North Korea, though there has been no official attribution.

]]> Fri, 30 Oct 2026 18:18:00 GMT <![CDATA[Shell and TotalEnergies double profits on a refining boom]]> France’s TotalEnergies posted adjusted net income of US$9.1 billion, against US$4 billion a year earlier and above the US$8.3 billion forecast European oil majors Shell and TotalEnergies doubled their profits in the third quarter of 2026 and posted their best quarterly results since 2022, driven by refining margins almost four times higher than a year earlier amid tensions in the Middle East, according to results published on Thursday. Both expanded their share buyback programmes.

]]> Fri, 30 Oct 2026 01:00:00 GMT <![CDATA[The IMF urges Argentina to “stay the course” despite doubts over growth and country risk]]> On Tuesday, IMF staff and the Argentine authorities reached agreement on the third review of the Extended Fund Facility programme, which would allow a disbursement of about US$900 million The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday urged Argentina’s government to stick with its economic programme as the best way to reduce country risk, and set out four measures to turn the gains of stabilisation into growth and jobs, at a time when the press is warning of a possible technical recession.

]]> Thu, 29 Oct 2026 16:26:00 GMT