Number of companies going down on the rise
The number of Swiss companies that went bankrupt in January rose 38 per cent over the same period last year to 481.
Switzerland’s industry-heavy central plateau suffered the most, credit ratings agency Dun & Bradstreet said on Thursday evening. Bankruptcies in the region, which includes cantons Zurich, Thurgau and Bern, almost doubled.
Of the 92 bankruptcies there last year, 67 of those were “real” insolvencies. A small part were categorised as bankruptcies due to changes in legislation.
The northwest cantons of Aargau, Basel City and Basel Country saw increases of 90 per cent and bankruptcies in Switzerland’s six central cantons rose by 62 per cent, to 76.
The Lake Geneva region, which includes cantons Valais, Vaud and Geneva, had the most bankruptcies, at 110 cases, which represented a 28 per cent increase.
The Italian-speaking canton of Ticino saw insolvencies fall 11 per cent to 24.
Dun & Bradstreet also reported that 2,754 new companies were formed in January, an increase of 4 per cent. Canton Schaffhausen notched 35 new companies, an increase of 133 per cent.
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