CRIF AG has analysed how many businesses were set up in the first five months of 2023, how many companies filed for bankruptcy and how many businesses had been completely deleted from the register.
Slight decline in filings for bankruptcy in some cantons
Across the whole of Switzerland, the level of bankruptcies rose by 2.3% from January to May. There has been a slight decline in filings for bankruptcy in some Cantons: Neuchâtel (-31.1%), Geneva (-21.4%) and Ticino (-17.4%).
The highest number of bankruptcies were reported in the construction industry (546), followed by the food and drink sector (349) and the wholesale trade (246).
In percentage terms, there was a sharp increase in filings for bankruptcy in advertising and market research (+51.7%), gardening and landscaping (+26.3%) and the retail trade (+18.9%).
More new company start-ups, but a decline in growth
A total of 21,601 new businesses were set up throughout Switzerland. This represents an increase of 3.1% compared with the previous year. Over the same period, 12,584 companies were deleted from the commercial register, which represents an increase of 7.3% in deletions compared with the previous year. The net growth in the number of companies thus declined slightly (-2.3%).
Most of the new entries were in the Cantons of Zurich (3,994), Vaud (2,044) and Bern (1,813). Start-ups most frequently involved the retail trade (2,066), followed by the construction industry (1,729) and the management consultancy sector (1,701).
About the survey process
We have taken into consideration all those businesses that were newly entered into the commercial register in the period from 1st January 2023 to 31st May 2023 , together with all the businesses against whom bankruptcy proceedings were instigated.
