Credit, Ueno Bank
Miguel Vázquez was determined to create the first Paraguayan company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
And until a few months ago, it looked like he might: Banco Ueno, the financial institution he created by expanding his father's consumer lending business, had attracted more than 3 million customers in a country with a population of just under 6.5 million.
But this week, the dream of Vázquez, who is 36 years old, collapsed when the Central Bank of Paraguay (BCP) intervened in Banco Ueno, claiming to have detected signs of insolvency.
The collapse of the financial institution ended up bringing down the government of President Santiago Peña due to its alleged links with the consortium known as Grupo Vázquez, the holding company that included Banco Ueno, whose majority shareholder is Federico Miguel Vázquez Villasanti.
Vázquez surrendered to authorities this week and his assets were searched and seized by the Public Prosecutor's Office.
Santiago Peña was arrested at his home, in the capital, Asunción, after being impeached.
But who is Miguel Vázquez and what is the influence of the Vázquez Group in Paraguay?
The millennial entrepreneur
Credit, Reuters
In interviews with the Paraguayan press, Vázquez described his pride in being a third-generation businessman, following in the footsteps of his maternal grandfather, who owned a Mercedes-Benz dealership, and his father, who founded Credicentro in the 1980s.
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"In a way, I am the union of these two families in the Vázquez Group," he explained to local media at the time.
An only child, Vázquez focused his studies on Business Administration, obtaining degrees from prestigious American universities to expand the family business.
The company went through a consolidation process, acquiring other smaller companies and investing in other sectors, which culminated in its initial public offering on the Asunción Stock Exchange in 2012.
But it was in 2021 that Grupo Vázquez began its real growth with the acquisition of Financiera El Comercio. In the following years, Credicentro was renamed Ueno Holdings, and the company applied to the Central Bank of Paraguay for authorization to become a bank.
This approval came in 2023, after Santiago Peña assumed the presidency. Ueno Bank had an almost entirely digital focus and launched attractive promotions to attract customers to its platform. Additionally, Ueno Bank became popular for its support of the national football team.
Its success was such that its growth was meteoric: it went from half a million users in 2023 to more than 3 million in 2026.
In addition to Vázquez, seven other group executives were made available to authorities to face charges that include abuse of trust, fraud and conduct that led to bankruptcy.
The prosecutor's office said the list of charges could be expanded as the investigations progress.
The relationship with Peña
Regarding his relationship with Santiago Peña, who was arrested this Friday following impeachment proceedings in Congress for his involvement in the scandal, Vázquez referred to him as a "true friend" and noted that he was a minority investor in Credicentro in 2018.
In his defense, Peña stated that he sold his shares in Ueno Holdings in 2025.
Before the impeachment was approved, one of the now former president's lawyers, Adolfo Ferreiro, had stated that in the event of his dismissal, the defense would appeal to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The politician's lawyers complain that there was little time to prepare the defense and question the guarantee of rights granted throughout the process.
It remains uncertain what will happen to the rest of the Vázquez Group's operations and investments, given the intervention and liquidation of Ueno Holdings.
Vázquez, who through his company supported motorsport categories such as the World Rally Championship (WRC), stated that he is a lover of speed in several aspects of his life.
"I'm passionate about speed and competition. Racing in a rally car, competing in triathlons, chasing my children Facu, Lu and Fede. Chasing the ideas of my best friend and wife, Lala; but, above all, chasing the speed of innovation in each of my ventures."
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