More Swiss firms declare bankruptcy

The number of Swiss companies declaring bankruptcy rose again slightly in 2018 to 4,813. Construction, the trades and catering were the most affected sectors.

Overall there was a rise in bankruptcies of 2% on 2017. December 2018 alone saw 450 insolvencies, although this was 5% less than the previous year.

Only two regions recorded a drop in firms going bust: Zurich (-6%) and southwestern Switzerland (-1%), said a study by Bisnode D&B, a data and analytics provider, released on Friday. The regions with the biggest increases were northwestern Switzerland and eastern Switzerland.

“Bisnode D&B’s analysis shows that construction, the trades and catering carry the biggest risk of bankruptcy. If you have debtors in these sectors, you should be aware that the risk of payment defaults due to bankruptcy more than doubles,” a statement said.

There was, however, a small drop in the number of start-ups: 43,185 firms were registered last year, 208 fewer than in 2017.