A banking crisis that has left nearly half of Paraguay’s population unable to access their money has forced the president to resign after his own party turned against him. Thousands of people have joined protests across the landlocked South American country.

At the centre of the crisis is Ueno Bank, a rapidly expanding digital bank with around 3 million customers in a country of approximately 6.5 million people. Customers used its accounts to receive salaries and pensions as well as to hold their savings.

That reach explains the scale of the disruption. The loss of access affects money people depend on for their everyday lives, not simply savings set aside for the future. A problem centred on one bank has consequently become a national financial and political crisis.

The president’s loss of support within his own party brought the political consequences directly into government. His resignation, however, is a separate matter from restoring customers’ access to their funds.

The cause of the banking disruption, the arrangements for restoring access and the timetable for doing so remain unspecified. Nor is it established whether customers face losses: being unable to withdraw money is not, by itself, evidence that their deposits have been lost.