31,924 new companies in the first 9 months of the year in Switzerland

CRIF AG analyzed the number of companies established in the first three quarters of the current year and the number of companies removed in the same period. During the period in question, 31,924 new undertakings were established overall. Conversely, 22,041 companies were removed from the Business Register.
The largest number of new registrations occurred in the following cantons: Zürich (5,751), Vaud (3,251), Geneva (2,669), Bern (2,592) and Aargau (1,984).

If the number of new companies is compared with the number existing at the start of the year, the canton of Lucerne shows the strongest net growth with 2.4%, followed by the cantons of Aargau, Valais and Zürich with an increase of 2.1%. Only Obwalden canton has a negative balance with -1.4%.

Looking at the individual sectors, retail trade has the highest number of openings (2,522), followed by the management consultancy sector (2,444), the construction sector (2,409), the real estate sector (1,774), wholesale trade (1,677) and catering services (1,625). Regarding companies removed from the register, again retail trade registered the highest number of closures (2,248), followed by wholesale (2,084), construction (1,895), catering services (1,684) and management consultancy (1,150).

The sectors with the highest net growth were management consultancy (1,294), the real estate sector (913) and the health sector (814). There was a strong decrease in the number of companies in the wholesale trade sector (-407), in the insurance sector (-159) and catering services (-59).

About the assessment
All new companies registered on the Business Register between January and June 2017 were taken into account, and all companies in the same period that were removed from the Business Register. A company can be removed, for example, due to expulsion, within the context of suspension of bankruptcy proceedings, at the deadline for the repayment of liquidity, in the case of mergers, or company closures due to a lack of business succession.

CRIF SA
CRIF SA is the leading supplier in Switzerland of risk management, fraud prevention and claims management solutions over the whole customer life cycle. CRIF also offers decision support analyses and solutions, above all for the purposes of optimizing credit applications, portfolio management and collection processes.

The complete study can be requested by writing to presse.ch@crif.com