Legal reform has consequences Bankruptcy wave rolls over Switzerland - these regions are hit the hardest

Never before have so many company bankruptcies been recorded in Switzerland as in 2025. According to a new analysis, the number has risen by 40 percent. A legal reform is now forcing public creditors to take action.

The number of corporate bankruptcies in Switzerland has reached a record level. According to a recent analysis by Dun & Bradstreet, 6,274 insolvency proceedings have been opened since the beginning of the year, an increase of 40 percent compared to the previous year. Parallel to the bankruptcies, the number of newly founded companies rose by 4 percent.

In addition to the challenging macroeconomic environment, the increase in insolvencies is related to a change in the Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy Act (SchKG), which came into force on January 1, 2025. This reform obliges public creditors such as tax authorities and social security funds to consistently assert outstanding claims against companies via bankruptcy proceedings.

Previously, these institutions were able to initiate debt enforcement proceedings but were not obliged to file for bankruptcy, which allowed many over-indebted companies to continue to exist.

The new regulation now puts public creditors on an equal footing with private creditors, which will lead to much stricter handling and an increase in bankruptcy proceedings in the short term. In the long term, the reform should lead to better payment practices and a fairer competitive landscape.

Significant regional differences

The analysis shows major regional differences in the development of company bankruptcies. The number of bankruptcies rose most sharply in Central Switzerland (+48%), followed by Espace Mittelland (+44%), Northwestern Switzerland and Eastern Switzerland (+43% each). The number of bankruptcies also rose by 42% in south-western Switzerland.

The increase was somewhat more moderate in Ticino (+34%) and Zurich (+28%). These differences illustrate that the impact of the change in the law varies from region to region, depending on the respective economic structure, debt situation and industry shares.

Broad increase across all sectors

An analysis of the sectors with at least 100 bankruptcies shows that there has been a significant increase in all sectors. The manufacturing of durable goods (+64%) is the most affected, followed by the IT sector (+60%), holding and investment companies (+59%) and business services (+55%). This trend suggests that the change in the law primarily affects companies that were already struggling with low liquidity or structural problems.

In parallel to the rise in insolvencies, the number of business start-ups also increased. In the first three quarters of 2025, 40,866 new companies were entered in the commercial register, an increase of 4% compared to the previous year. Central Switzerland (+11%) was the most start-up-friendly region, followed by Zurich (+6%) and Northwestern and Southwestern Switzerland (+4% each).

Espace Mittelland saw a slight increase of 2%, while the number of new start-ups stagnated in Ticino and fell slightly in Eastern Switzerland (-1%).

Double-digit growth in new registrations was recorded in particular by real estate agents and property managers (+20%), holding companies (+17%) and the IT sector (+16%). In contrast, the retail trade (-11%), land transportation and logistics (-5%) and the hospitality industry (-3%) recorded declines.