(16.11.2022) The first nine months of the year have proven tumultuous for Swiss companies. According to consulting firm Dun&Bradstreet, insolvencies rose by 23% in the first three quarters of 2022. On the other hand, company start-ups have fallen by 2%.
Between January 1 and September 30, 2022, 3,552 companies filed for bankruptcy in Switzerland, compared to 2,897 over the same period in 2021. No region has been spared: the canton of Zurich (+42%) and Central Switzerland (+32%) are the most affected, closely followed by Mittelland (+26%) and Northwestern Switzerland (+20%). Overall, the trend is less marked in the Lake Geneva region (+16%) - although there is a significant disparity between Geneva (+27%) and Vaud (+1%) - and in Ticino (+10%).
With a 137% increase, Schwyz recorded the highest number of insolvencies in the country. By contrast, entrepreneurs in Appenzell Ausserrhoden (-41%), Obwalden (-38%) and Jura (-11%) enjoyed a more favourable year than the previous one.
The overall increase in bankruptcies is accompanied by a fall in the number of new companies: the report shows that there will be 37,077 entries in the commercial register in 2022, compared with 37,687 in 2021, a decline of 2%. Only the Zurich region (+3%) and Ticino (+1%) will succeed in bucking the national trend. In the other regions, the annual variation ranges from -1% (Lake Geneva) to -4% (Espace Mittelland, Northwestern Switzerland and Central Switzerland).
According to the report's author, Dun&Bradstreet, the decline in the number of business start-ups is even more pronounced in Germany (-11%) and Austria (-5%). By contrast, the number of insolvencies rose more moderately in Germany (+4), but increased significantly in Austria (+51%).
Last modification 16.11.2022
