一家數位銀行倒閉如何讓巴拉圭總統下台

作者：丹妮拉・德桑提斯與布蘭登・歐博伊爾By Daniela Desantis and Brendan O'Boyle

亞松森，11月8日（路透社）——多年來，巴拉圭數位銀行 ueno 一直是本土成功故事的代表，吸引約全國半數民眾開戶，並讓許多人有生以來第一次有機會持有銀行帳戶。ASUNCION, Nov 8 (Reuters) - For years, Paraguay’s digital bank, ueno, stood out as a homegrown success story, luring roughly half the country's people to open accounts and offering many the opportunity to hold a bank account for the very first time.

但就在本週短短5天內，這家銀行倒閉，凍結近300萬名客戶的存款——巴拉圭全國人口為650萬——並引發該國10多年來最嚴重的政治危機。But over just five days this week, the bank collapsed, freezing the savings of nearly 3 million customers — in a country of 6.5 million people — and triggering the country’s deepest political crisis in more than a decade.

週五晚間，總統聖地牙哥・潘尼亞在試圖辭職後遭到彈劾，副總統佩德羅・阿里亞納宣誓接任。On Friday evening, President Santiago Peña was impeached after attempting to resign, and his vice president, Pedro Alliana, was sworn in as his replacement.

當局很快逮捕了潘尼亞。潘尼亞是經濟學家，也是美國總統唐納・川普的親密盟友；檢方週六以背信及圖利罪名起訴他。法官裁定將他羈押候審，地點在一處軍事設施。Authorities quickly arrested Peña, an economist and close ally of US President Donald Trump, and prosecutors charged him on Saturday with breach of trust and administration for personal gain. A judge ordered him held in pretrial detention at a military facility.

潘尼亞否認不法行為；他的律師里卡多・普雷達告訴記者，潘尼亞對相關指控主張無罪。Peña has denied wrongdoing and his attorney, Ricardo Preda, told journalists that he was pleading not guilty to the charges.

這起醜聞引發民眾抗議，也招致反對派嚴厲譴責。The scandal has triggered public protests and sharp rebukes from the opposition.

反對派參議員拉斐爾・菲利佐拉週五表示：「我們正面臨民主史上最大的貪腐醜聞。這次彈劾是確保正義獲得伸張的第一步。」“We are facing the biggest corruption scandal in our democratic history,” said opposition Senator Rafael Filizzola on Friday. "This impeachment is a first step toward ensuring justice is served."

巴拉圭經濟學家、前財政部長曼努爾・費雷拉也呼應了民眾對此案的憤怒。他說：「這是現代版的邦妮與克萊德。他們不是用手槍搶劫我們，而是用一款應用程式搶劫我們。這個犯罪集團的頭目就是共和國總統。」Manuel Ferreira, a Paraguayan economist and former finance minister, echoed much of the public anger over the case. “This was a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde,” he said. “They didn’t rob us with a pistol, they robbed us with an app. The head of the gang was the president of the republic.”

央行總裁也遭起訴CENTRAL BANK CHIEF ALSO CHARGED

直到2025年3月，潘尼亞仍是擁有 ueno 集團的商業夥伴。他在2023年當選後，任命 ueno 前總裁卡洛斯・卡瓦洛掌管中央銀行。Until March 2025, Peña had been a business partner of the group that owns ueno. After his election in 2023, he tapped ueno's former president, Carlos Carvallo, to lead the central bank.

卡瓦洛本週稍早辭去央行總裁職務。檢方週六以背信、製作不實公文書及圖利罪名起訴他，並聲請將他羈押候審；法官已批准聲請。Carvallo resigned as central bank chief earlier this week. Prosecutors charged him on Saturday with breach of trust, producing false public documents and administration for personal gain. They sought his pretrial detention, which was approved by a judge.

卡瓦洛未回應媒體詢問。目前尚不清楚他是否已在此案中提出答辯。Carvallo did not respond to a request for comment. It was not immediately clear if he had entered a plea in the case.

潘尼亞的律師普雷達反對彈劾，並表示在銀行處置程序進行期間罷免總統，本身就可能造成不穩定。Peña’s lawyer, Preda, objected to the impeachment, saying that ousting a president during a bank resolution could itself be destabilizing.

普雷達週五表示：「一個嚴肅國家與其他國家的差別，不在於它的銀行不會倒閉，而在於它如何因應。如果有一件事會動搖對金融體系的信心，那就是在沒有證據的情況下企圖罷免總統。」“What sets a serious country apart is not that its banks don’t fail, but how it responds,” Preda said on Friday. “If there is one thing that undermines confidence in the financial system, it is attempting to oust the president without evidence.”

Ueno 於2021年推出，是一款設計俐落、吸引千禧世代的銀行應用程式，很快就贏得過去未受實體金融機構充分服務的巴拉圭民眾青睞。Ueno was launched in 2021 as a sleek, millennial-friendly banking app that quickly won over Paraguayans who had been underserved by brick-and-mortar institutions.

它很快深度嵌入巴拉圭的支付系統。Ueno 將數位服務與實體分行結合，後來並贊助運動隊伍、企業和活動。截至6月，包括巴拉圭國家退休基金在內的公共機構，在該銀行帳戶中持有約8億5000萬美元。It soon became deeply embedded in Paraguay's payments system. It paired its digital offering with physical branches, later sponsoring sports teams, businesses and events. As of June, public institutions — including Paraguay's state pension fund — held roughly $850 million in accounts with the bank.

但近幾個月來，警告該銀行對特定企業過度放款的內部監管報告被洩露給當地媒體 ABC 與 Última Hora，引發政界審視該銀行的放款作法。But in recent months, internal regulatory reports warning of excessive lending to certain companies were leaked to local media outlets ABC and Última Hora, triggering political scrutiny of the bank's lending practices.

在公眾壓力日增後，巴拉圭央行週二認定 ueno 違反最低償付能力要求，因而將 ueno 納入處置程序——這是僅次於立即清算的最強力措施——導致數百萬名客戶暫時無法使用自己的帳戶。Following growing public pressure, Paraguay’s central bank on Tuesday put ueno into resolution — its strongest measure ‌short of immediate liquidation — after determining that ueno had breached minimum solvency requirements, locking millions of customers temporarily out of their accounts.

央行週六表示，此後已依國家存款保證制度，向近120萬名存戶支付相當於1億6000萬美元的款項。The central bank said on Saturday that the equivalent of $160 million had since been paid out to nearly 1.2 million savers under the state deposit guarantee scheme.

當局承諾將償還存戶款項，並表示這場危機僅限於 ueno。但分析人士表示，巴拉圭作為南美洲穩定投資目的地的聲譽所受損害，延續時間可能遠比銀行處置程序本身更久。Authorities have promised that depositors will be reimbursed and say the crisis is confined to ueno. But analysts say the damage to Paraguay’s reputation as a stable investment destination in South America may linger far longer than the bank resolution itself.

費雷拉表示：「這正是巴拉圭必須證明其制度仍在運作的時刻。」“This is the moment when Paraguay must demonstrate that its institutions are functioning,” Ferreira said.

（丹妮拉・德桑提斯亞松森、布蘭登・歐博伊爾墨西哥城報導；露辛達・艾略特與馬修・路易斯編輯）(Reporting by Daniela Desantis in Asuncion and Brendan O'Boyle in Mexico City; Editing by Lucinda Elliott and Matthew Lewis)