Bad news for waiting theorists: the first repayments in Paraguay started. Since Thursday 5 November, Ueno Bank customers have been recovering money. José Maciel, Head of the Deposit Guarantee Fund, confirmed the start of payments. In Lebanon, the deposits blocked since 2019 continue their brilliant stay under house arrest: they exist on the records, but their owner still struggles to dispose of them.
The show has something undecided. A bank is crumbling, the authorities intervene, an active guarantee mechanism. All in the same week. Lebanese officials should be warned: somewhere, colleagues take the word « emergency » at the foot of the letter. This could create an unfortunate precedent.
First repayments in Paraguay: the scandal of the concrete
Nevertheless, let us keep the figures, even in an editorial. The Central Bank of Paraguay initiated the Ueno resolution on 2 November. It announced a first advance of up to 10 million guaranis. The first group includes depositors without debt to the institution, who have an account in another bank and whose deposits do not exceed that amount.
The Guarantee Fund covers up to 228.3 million Guaranis per person per establishment, i.e. 75 minimum wages. This ceiling does not multiply with the accounts. Advances therefore do not mean immediate general restitution or guaranteed repayment of all higher amounts. Paraguayan savers still have reason to worry.
But one detail deserves our provincial admiration: the scheme already produces payments. Not only a promise of a timetable preceded by a consultation on the method of organising the next meeting. Money actually changes accounts. In our region, this rudimentary operation could almost justify an international symposium.
A president leaves power, really
Political chronology also deserves better than a shortcut. Santiago Peña announced his resignation on November 5. Congress did not accept it; The Senate dismissed him the next day. Pedro Alliana succeeded him. The first repayments had started before the removal. So they are not a personal miracle of the new president.
Peña had held shares in Ueno Holding, a structure linked to the banking group, and declared that he was separated from it in March 2025. A communication from the company documents a decision to repay and cancel the securities concerned. Presenting it as the bank’s current shareholder without a grade would be inaccurate. As for criminal responsibilities, they are a matter of justice, not of our mood.
This institutional curiosity remains: a banking crisis can cost the head of state his chair. For a Lebanese depositor, the scene looks like a foreign fiction poorly translated. At home, the chair often seems better guaranteed than the deposit. Maybe we should open an account on behalf of the chair.
In Lebanon, withdrawal has become an academic specialty
Let us also be precise about Lebanon: to say that no one has received anything since 2019 would be false. Circulars 158 and 166 allow partial refunds, subject to conditions. The Bank of Lebanon announced monthly ceilings of $1,200 and $600 for 1 December. Their increase concerns the share usable by card, not banknotes.
Under the first arrangement, $800 is in the cash and other available instalment, and 400 is in the card instalment. In the second, the distribution is $400 and $200. Both envelopes do not add up freely. It takes almost a degree to understand how to spend a fraction of your own money.
These payments count for families. Minimizing them would be contemptuous. Presenting them as returning to a normal bank would be just as insulting. A savings available when needed remains different from a monthly ration subject to conditions. The applicant wanted to prepare his retirement; He was offered continuous training in banking regulation.
Two different crises, seven real years
The bankruptcy of a Paraguayan institution is not confused with the Lebanese systemic collapse, combining banks, central bank and public finances. Resources, losses and currencies differ. Copying a warranty ceiling would fill no holes. This difference explains the difficulty; It does not turn seven years of waiting into an administrative performance.
The real comparison relates to the priority given to the applicant. Protecting small economies, establishing responsibilities, allocating losses and accountability: this is the program. It is less spectacular than a conference, but has a considerable commercial advantage: the customer can eventually pay for his shopping afterwards. There is no difference in the banking system that exempts from saying who will pay, which rules and when. This schedule is still missing from Lebanese applicants.
In Paraguay, there is still a need to verify the continuation of repayments and the fate of the amounts not covered. In Lebanon, the next concrete event remains the raising of the ceilings in December. Another month to wait to learn how much money we’ll be allowed to use. Thank you for waiting: your savings are important to us.
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