Switzerland's Bankruptcy Record, Decoded
The 2025–26 wave is established companies, not empty shells
65,614 companies entering bankruptcy since 2016 · every bankruptcy notice in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce · company age from the Zefix register · data to 24 September 2026
Between 1 January and 24 September 2026, 9,225 Swiss companies entered bankruptcy. In the same period of 2024 there were 4,598. The cause is known: since 1 January 2025, tax offices and social-insurance funds can take a company to bankruptcy for unpaid public-law debts, instead of stopping at seizure.
What has not been measured is who is in the wave. The common reading is a clean-out of dormant shells that should have been closed years ago. We tested that reading on every company, and the register does not support it. The additional bankruptcies are mostly established companies, and they are no more often closed for lack of assets than the companies that failed before the reform.
All figures are computed from Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce notices and the Zefix register, not from surveys.
Companies entering bankruptcy, per month
01The wave arrived in May 2025, five months after the law
From January to April 2025, 542 companies a month entered bankruptcy, the same as the 2024 average of 551. From May, the monthly figure jumped and has not returned to the old level: 1,005 a month on average from May to December 2025, and more than 1,000 in most months of 2026. The delay is the procedure: a payment order, the deadline for objection, the threat of bankruptcy, then the court. The law changed on 1 January; the courts started deciding the new cases in the spring.
02Seven in ten additional bankruptcies are established companies
Companies at least five years old account for 69% of the increase from 2024 to 2026: 2,489 cases in the 2024 period, 5,659 in 2026. Companies under two years old, the start-ups and phoenix companies that bankruptcy-abuse debates usually focus on, rose far less and account for 10% of the increase. Established companies now make up 61% of all bankruptcies, up from 54%. The reform is reaching companies that had been carrying unpaid tax and social contributions for years, not only companies created to leave debts behind.
03It is not a clean-out of empty shells
Two measures say the same thing. First, a bankruptcy that finds no assets is suspended, and the share suspended within six months has not risen: 47% for companies entering bankruptcy in the first quarter of 2026, against 52% on average in 2019–2022. Second, 41% of the companies that went bankrupt in 2026 had published nothing in the register for three years, exactly the share among all active companies. If the wave were dormant shells being tidied away, both figures would have risen. Neither did.
04Companies limited by shares are rising fastest
Bankruptcies of companies limited by shares (AG/SA) rose 2.1 times, limited liability companies (GmbH/Sàrl) 1.95 times and sole proprietorships 1.8 times. GmbHs still make up almost half of all cases, but the fastest growth is in the legal form with the higher capital requirement and, typically, the larger operating business.
05Geneva and Zug more than doubled; Solothurn barely moved
Among cantons with at least 100 cases in 2024, bankruptcies rose most in Geneva (+172%), Zug (+168%) and Valais (+146%). Zurich rose 93% and Bern doubled. The smallest increases were in Solothurn (+27%), St. Gallen (+65%) and Vaud (+66%). Cantonal tax offices decide how quickly they use the new route, so part of the spread reflects enforcement practice, not only the state of local business.
06What it means for buyers and creditors
More than half the new bankruptcies are not suspended for lack of assets, and most belong to companies with a trading history. That means more going-concern and asset sales out of bankruptcy offices: customer lists, equipment and teams of companies that were operating until their public-law debts caught up with them. For suppliers, the change is the opposite: a customer with overdue tax or social contributions is now a bankruptcy risk, not a slow payer.
Who is in the wave
Same period each year (1 January to 24 September). "Share of the rise" is each group's part of the increase from 2024 to 2026.
| Group | 2024 | 2026 | Multiple | Share of the rise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 2 years old | 679 | 1,123 | ×1.65 | 9.6% |
| 2 to 5 years old | 1,430 | 2,443 | ×1.71 | 21.9% |
| 5 years or older | 2,489 | 5,659 | ×2.27 | 68.5% |
| Company limited by shares (AG/SA) | 1,021 | 2,140 | ×2.1 | 24.2% |
| Limited liability company (GmbH/Sàrl) | 2,268 | 4,425 | ×1.95 | 46.6% |
| Sole proprietorship | 1,103 | 1,980 | ×1.8 | 19% |
Change by canton
Each canton against its own figure for the same period of 2024 (1 January to 24 September). * Fewer than 50 cases in 2024: percentages are volatile.
| Canton | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | vs 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZHZurich | 770 | 975 | 1,488 | +93% |
| GEGeneva | 399 | 747 | 1,085 | +172% |
| VDVaud | 530 | 629 | 879 | +66% |
| TITicino | 382 | 441 | 729 | +91% |
| BEBern | 350 | 453 | 699 | +100% |
| ZGZug | 213 | 380 | 571 | +168% |
| AGAargau | 292 | 499 | 499 | +71% |
| VSValais | 162 | 367 | 399 | +146% |
| LULucerne | 202 | 241 | 383 | +90% |
| SGSt. Gallen | 220 | 345 | 362 | +65% |
| BLBasel-Landschaft | 147 | 147 | 283 | +93% |
| TGThurgau | 117 | 156 | 278 | +138% |
| FRFribourg | 138 | 231 | 277 | +101% |
| BSBasel-Stadt | 119 | 158 | 230 | +93% |
| SOSolothurn | 175 | 284 | 222 | +27% |
| SZSchwyz | 104 | 144 | 172 | +65% |
| NENeuchâtel | 76 | 105 | 158 | +108% |
| GRGraubünden | 65 | 91 | 145 | +123% |
| JUJura | 27 | 45 | 103 | +281%* |
| ARAppenzell A.Rh. | 35 | 44 | 102 | +191%* |
| NWNidwalden | 25 | 30 | 49 | +96%* |
| SHSchaffhausen | 23 | 41 | 47 | +104%* |
| OWObwalden | 3 | 14 | 25 | +733%* |
| GLGlarus | 13 | 14 | 17 | +31%* |
| URUri | 7 | 11 | 16 | +129%* |
| AIAppenzell I.Rh. | 4 | 7 | 7 | +75%* |
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Methodology
- Population
- Every legal entity in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (SOGC/SHAB/FOSC) with a commercial-register notice opening bankruptcy (dissolution by bankruptcy), February 2016 to 24 September 2026: 65,614 companies. Each company is counted once, in the month of its first opening. Year-on-year comparisons use the same calendar window (1 January to 24 September) in every year.
- Measures
- Company age: the date of the founding notice in the Zefix register; where the register's electronic history starts after the founding (before 2016), the register's sequential entry number (EHRA-ID), calibrated against 9,111 founding dates, places the company before 2016. Suspension: a notice within 183 days stating that the proceedings were suspended for lack of assets, measured only on companies entering bankruptcy between 1 January and 24 March, so that every cohort has had six months. Register silence: no other notice in the three years before the opening, compared with the same measure across 370,716 active companies. Legal form from the notice text and the company name.
- Official statistics
- The Federal Statistical Office counted 12,485 company bankruptcy proceedings opened in 2025 (+61.2%). This study counts 10,207 companies with a first bankruptcy opening published in the SOGC in 2025 (+54%). The official figure counts proceedings opened by bankruptcy offices; this study counts distinct companies in the commercial register, which excludes repeat openings and proceedings with no register notice. The two series move together.
- Sources
- Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce notices (full archive since February 2016); Zefix, the federal commercial-register index (publication history and EHRA-ID, retrieved September 2026); Federal Act on Combating Abusive Bankruptcy of 18 March 2022 (AS 2023 628), in force 1 January 2025; Federal Statistical Office bankruptcy statistics 2025.
- Limits
- A register notice records the opening of bankruptcy, not its cause, so this study cannot separate bankruptcies requested by tax offices from those requested by other creditors. Industry is not reported: most company names do not identify a sector reliably. Cases opened in the last six months have not yet had time to be suspended, which is why the suspension rate uses first-quarter cohorts. September 2026 is incomplete.
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ValIndex, "Switzerland's Bankruptcy Record, Decoded", September 2026. Based on every bankruptcy notice in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce since 2016 and the Zefix register. https://valindex.ch/en/research/swiss-bankruptcy-record-2026/