The 2002 Uruguay banking crisis was a major banking crisis that hit Uruguay in July 2002. In this, a massive run on banks by depositors (most of them from neighboring Argentina) caused the government to freeze banking operations. The crisis was caused by a considerable contraction in Uruguay's economy and by over-dependence on Argentina (tourism, and construction boom), which experienced a strong phase of an economic meltdown itself in late 2001. In total, approximately 1/3 of the country's deposits were withdrawn and five financial institutions were left insolvent. The value of the Uruguayan peso fell, losing nearly half of its value against the U.S. dollar in 2002.
Had there been proper bank regulation by Uruguayan authorities, the banking crisis could have been avoided entirely. The Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU) had trusted international banks to regulate themselves properly and was too lenient and slow in responding to the crisis.