Closing a company / Question 5
How many companies go bankrupt?
Intelligence, not legal advice. Screening is a starting point, not a clearance opinion.
In 2025, 12,485 bankruptcy proceedings were opened against companies in Switzerland, according to the Federal Statistical Office: 61.2% more than a year earlier. The FSO links most of the rise to a change in the law in force since January 2025. Separately, 2,755 companies were dissolved for defects in their organisation.
01 / Federal Statistical Office
Bankruptcies, by the official count.
bankruptcy proceedings were opened against companies in Switzerland in 2025, 61.2% more than in 2024.
companies were dissolved in 2025 for defects in their organisation and liquidated under the rules on bankruptcy (OR Art. 731b), counted separately.
Figures of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), debt collection and bankruptcy statistics 2025, press release of 21 May 2026, from the data of the cantonal debt collection and bankruptcy offices. They are the FSO’s figures, not an Antevo count. The FSO links most of the rise to the change in the debt collection law in force since 1 January 2025, which lets creditors of unpaid public-law claims, such as taxes or social insurance contributions, ask for bankruptcy. It counts dissolutions for defects in the organisation separately, because the companies concerned are not necessarily over-indebted.
Check a name ↑02 / Why it rose
A change in the law.
Since 1 January 2025, creditors of unpaid public-law claims, such as taxes or social insurance contributions, can continue debt collection by way of bankruptcy; until then, only seizure was possible. The FSO links most of the 2025 rise to this change, without being able to say exactly how much. (FSO, 21 May 2026)
Of the 19,894 proceedings of every kind closed in 2025, more than half (55.9%) were suspended for lack of assets. (FSO)
Check a name ↑03 / In the register
Bankruptcy on the record.
The court reports the opening of bankruptcy to the register, which adds “in Liquidation” to the company’s name; a suspension for lack of assets and the close of the proceedings are entered too. (HRegV Arts. 158 and 159)
A court can also dissolve a company with defects in its organisation and order its liquidation under the rules on bankruptcy; if the liquidators find it over-indebted, the court opens bankruptcy. (OR Art. 731b)
Check a name ↑04 / In Antevo
Before you buy from an estate, check the name.
A trademark can be realised like other assets. The free check screens a name across 50+ trademark registers and lists the marks near it, with office, status and the holder where it is a company. No account needed; the answer appears on this page.
Check a name ↑Sources
Where this comes from.
The counts behind the figures, the Federal Statistical Office’s bankruptcy figures and the primary sources for every legal point. Intelligence, not advice: nothing here is legal or tax advice, and your lawyer, notary or fiduciary confirms what a closure requires.