Number of Swiss bankruptcies increases for third year in a row
The number of bankruptcies in Switzerland has increased for three consecutive years for the first time since records began.
A total of 15,447 bankruptcy proceedings were opened in 2023 – 2.9% more than in the previous year, according to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).
However, the increase in the number of bankruptcies has slowed significantly compared to 2021 and 2022, the FSO said on Tuesday. In 2022, a year-on-year increase of 6.6% was recorded, while the increase in 2021 was as high as 9.1%.
And financial losses from bankruptcy proceedings were lower than in 2022, with the total damages incurred by company bankruptcies falling by 12% to CHF2 billion ($2.2 billion). Although there were “striking” increases in individual cantons, these were mainly due to specific cases involving relatively large amounts of money.
Meanwhile, the number of payment orders paints a different picture. During the pandemic years (2020-2022), these had levelled off at around 2.7 million. However, the number rose sharply, by 11%, in 2023. According to the FSO, the more than three million payment orders came close to the record figure in 2019.
Adapted from German by DeepL/kp
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