Swiss Commercial Register in May 2025: Increase in company formations and liquidations

New Registrations
A total of 4,577 new companies were registered in the Swiss Commercial Register in May 2025. This represents a slight increase of 0.5% compared to April. Year-on-year, the increase is even more significant: +2.6% compared to May 2024. This development demonstrates that the dynamics of new company formation remain at a healthy level despite economic uncertainties.

Decline in deletions – but significant increase compared to the previous year
Deletions also showed a month-on-month decline. In May 2025, 2,902 company deletions were registered, representing a decrease of 11% compared to April 2025. Nevertheless, there was a significant increase of 14% compared to the same month last year, which could indicate a subsequent adjustment of the company portfolio – for example, due to delayed deletions as a result of economic developments in previous years or structural changes within individual sectors.

Change entries stable – but high number of liquidations raises questions
A slight increase was also recorded in change entries. With 16,779 registered changes, the number rose by 0.4% compared to April 2025. This category includes, among other things, changes in company forms, addresses, managing directors, or capital structures – and is considered an indicator of economic activity within the existing company portfolio. Compared to May 2024, this trend remains almost stable (-0.1%), indicating a constant dynamic of change within the Swiss economy.

The increase in company liquidations, however, is much more striking: 2,043 companies ceased their business activities and officially decided on liquidation in May 2025. This represents an increase of 14.7% compared to the previous year.

Principality of Liechtenstein
In May 2025, only 52 new companies were registered in the Commercial Register of the Principality of Liechtenstein – a slight decrease of 4% compared to the previous month. In contrast, the number of company deletions increased: with a total of 88 deletions, this figure was approximately 10% higher than the previous month. The number of changes also declined significantly. In May, 616 changes were registered, representing a decrease of 25% compared to the previous month. All Commercial Register key figures for the Principality of Liechtenstein – based on data up to May 28, 2025 – are available at www.firmenbuch.li.


Contact:
Andy Rauch
CEO
044 240 36 40
medieninfo@help.ch

Editor's note: Image rights belong to the respective publisher.