National economy Significant increase in company bankruptcies

Company bankruptcies in Switzerland have skyrocketed in the first nine months of the current year.

According to figures released by the business information service Dun & Bradstreet on Wednesday, 4475 corporate insolvencies were opened during this period. This was 16 percent more than in the same period last year.

The number of insolvencies rose particularly sharply in south-western Switzerland. There it rose by 26 percent, while Central Switzerland recorded an increase of 22 percent, Eastern Switzerland an increase of 19 percent and Zurich an increase of 17 percent. Espace Mittelland recorded the smallest increase at 6%.

Looking at the developments in the various sectors, the sharp rise in company bankruptcies in the automotive industry (+47%), architectural firms (+40%) and companies in the entertainment and leisure industry (+33%) is striking. In contrast, insolvencies in the construction industry fell by 35% and in wholesale by 10%.

Slightly more start-ups

Not only were there more bankruptcies in the first nine months of the year, there were also 39,162 more companies founded or newly entered in the commercial register. However, the increase was limited at 2 percent.

The construction sector saw the strongest increase in start-ups at 38%, followed by the education sector, the land transportation and logistics sector and the automotive industry, each with an increase of around a quarter. In contrast, start-ups in the wholesale trade (-29%), utilities (-11%) and architectural firms (-10%) clearly declined.