Covid-19 credits
On this page you will find information and data related to Covid-19 bridging credits.
On this page, you will find information and data about Covid-19 credits for companies. To ensure liquidity, companies affected by the Covid-19 crisis were eligible to apply for bridging credits guaranteed by the federal government between March 26th 2020 and July 31st 2020.
Table of contents
- Number and volume of Covid-19 bridging credits
- Fully repaid Covid-19 bridging credits
- Honoring on guarantees under the Covid-19 bridging credits
- Further analyses of the bridging credits granted
- Reports of abuse
- Open cases after criminal complaint per canton
- Closed cases after criminal complaint
- Banks: Participation list, documents and information
- Legal basis
- Media releases
- Parliamentary initiatives
- Other information
- Media contact
Number and volume of Covid-19 bridging credits
The table below shows the number and volume of credits granted, regardless whether or not they have since been reimbursed. All numbers are updated regularly.
| Number | Average amount in CHF | Total in CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|
| COVID-19 credit agreements | 136'716 | 101'921 | 13'934'178'560 |
| COVID-19 credit plus | 1'134 | 2'655'831 * | 3'011'712'504 * |
| Total | 137'850 | 122'930 | 16'945'891'064 |
* These numbers are based on the entire credit amount and not just the share of 85% which is guaranteed by the Swiss Confederation
Last updated: 22.09.2021
Fully repaid Covid-19 bridging credits
The table below shows the Covid-19 bridging credits fully repaid by the borrowers in the specified year, whereupon the corresponding guarantee organizations were exonerated of their Covid-19 solidarity guarantee by the lenders. Partial repayments without guarantee exoneration are not shown in the table below.
| Number of credits | Average amount in CHF | Total in CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 8'398 | 222'806 | 1'871'120'625 |
| 2021 | 6'969 | 205'627 | 1'433'016'602 |
| Total | 15'367 | 215'015 | 3'304'137'227 |
Last updated: 22.09.2021
Honoring on guarantees under the Covid-19 bridging credits
The following tables provide information on the honoring of guarantees under the Covid-19 bridging loan programme, by year and by banking group. These are Covid-19 briding loans for which the banks have drawn down the guarantee and thus transferred the claims against the borrowers to the guarantee organisations. Reported here are the guarantees as reported by the guarantee organizations, which may differ from the federal government’s expenditures as reported in the government financial statements due to differences in the timing of the accounting entries.
Honoring on guarantees by year
| Number of credits | Average amount in CHF | Total in CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 766 | 81'151 | 62'161'721 |
| 2021 | 2'243 | 80'394 | 180'323'136 |
| Total | 3'009 | 80'587 | 242'484'857 |
Last updated: 22.09.2021
Honoring on guarantees by banking group
| Number of credits | Average amount in CHF | Total in CHF | Share of the total honoured volume |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big banks * | 1'078 | 98'381 | 106'054'217 | 44% |
| Cantonal banks | 685 | 76'711 | 52'546'776 | 22% |
| Raiffeisen banks | 415 | 75'818 | 31'464'516 | 13% |
| PostFinance | 589 | 60'473 | 35'618'472 | 15% |
| Other banking institutions | 242 | 69'425 | 16'800'877 | 6% |
| Total | 3'009 | 80'587 | 242'484'857 | 100% |
* Credit Suisse and UBS
Last updated: 22.09.2021
Honoring on guarantees by sectors
| Number of credits | Average amount in CHF | Total in CHF | Share of the total honoured volume |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Specialised construction activities (F43) | 579 | 83'032 | 48'075'504 | 20% |
| Construction of buildings (F41) | 213 | 101'514 | 21'622'501 | 9% |
| Food and beverage service activities (I56) | 395 | 50'505 | 19'949'414 | 8% |
| Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G46) | 176 | 106'069 | 18'668'222 | 8% |
| Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G47) | 184 | 67'648 | 12'447'283 | 5% |
| Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G45) | 112 | 95'533 | 10'699'657 | 4% |
| Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities (M70) | 95 | 67'405 | 6'403'441 | 3% |
| Human health activities (Q86) | 51 | 121'430 | 6'192'922 | 3% |
| Activities auxiliary to financial services and insurance activities (K66) | 76 | 80'819 | 6'142'270 | 3% |
| Real estate activities (L68) | 63 | 90'046 | 5'672'893 | 2% |
| All other sectors * | 1'065 | 81'325 | 86'610'749 | 35% |
| Total | 3'009 | 80'587 | 242'484'857 | 100% |
* The Federal Statistical Office (FSO) publishes a list of all sectors (2-digit NOGA codes) on its website.
Last updated: 22.09.2021
Further analyses of the bridging credits granted
The following charts illustrate distributions of granted Covid-19 bridging credits for a selected specification, for example by canton or by industry. These visualizations serve to provide background information and are based on data from the guarantee organizations. In order to exclude any conclusions about individual companies and to guarantee their anonymity, only aggregated data can be made available. Due to rounding, it is possible that the sum of the shares may not be 100%.
Status: 07.09.2021
Graphic for download: Number of credits by canton [png]
Graphic for download: Credit volume by canton [png]
Graphic for download: Number of credits by banking group [png]
Graphic for download: Credit volume by banking group [png]
Graphic for download: Top 10 banks by number of credits [png]
Graphic for download: Top 10 banks by credit volume [png]
Graphic for download: Number of credits by group of economic activities (NOGA section) [png]
Graphic for download: Credit volume by group of economic activities (NOGA section) [png]
Graphic for download: Top 10 sectors (NOGA division) by numbers of credits [png]
Graphic for download: Top 10 sectors (NOGA division) by credit volume (in CHF m) [png]
Graphic for download: Number of credits by legal form of the company [png]
Graphic for download: Credit volume by legal form of the company [png]
Graphic for download: Average credit amount by legal form of the company [png]
Graphic for download: Number of credits by company size (FTE) [png]
Graphic for download: Credit volume by company size (FTE) [png]
Graphic for download: Number of guaranteed credits by guarantee organisation [png]
Graphic for download: Guaranteed credit volume by guarantee organisation [png]
Reports of abuse
The table below contains potential and actual cases of abuse under the Covid-19-Solidarbürgschaftsverordnung (in German) and the Covid-19-Solidarbürgschaftsgesetz (in German). Here you find the concept for the detection and prevention of abuse (in German). The statistics show the cases of which the loan guarantee cooperatives are aware, either because they have filed a criminal complaint themselves or because they have been informed about them by third parties. They are not complete with regard to criminal charges of which the loan guarantee cooperatives are not aware. The statistics are updated on an ongoing basis.
| Types of abuse (all types according to the ordinance) | In clarification | Abuse not confirmed | Correction without filing of criminal complaint | ||||
| Open cases | Closed cases | ||||||
| Number | Delinquency amount** | Number | Delinquency amount** | ||||
| Multiple applications (Art. 3, para. 1) | 42 | 105 | 223 | 81 | CHF 15'782'053 | 20 | CHF 1'937'896 |
| Date of foundation (Art. 3, para. 1, a.) | 45 | 120 | 175 | 11 | CHF 1'021'036 | 5 | CHF 144'100 |
| In bankruptcy, estate or liquidation (Art. 3, para. 1, b.) | 39 | 7 | 14 | 17 | CHF 1'148'124 | 6 | CHF 1'128'500 |
| Sales information (Art. 7, para. 1) | 2'227 | 247 | 790 | 139 | CHF 28'567'965 | 26 | CHF 2'116'328 |
| Support for other emergency regulations (Art. 3, para. 1, d.) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Use of credit in general and replacement investments (Art. 6, para. 1 und 2)1 | 857 | 64 | 72 | 649 | CHF 74'091'399 | 127 | CHF 10'463'080 |
| Use of credit dividends, refinancing, etc. (Art. 6, para. 3)2 | 265 | 241 | 1'614 | 20 | CHF 4‘543'319 | 4 | CHF 620'000 |
| Others | 108 | 23 | 47 | 203 | CHF 22'930'147 | 27 | CHF 2'375'149 |
| Total | 3'583 | 807 | 2'937 | 1'119 | CHF 148'084'043 | 215 | CHF 18'785'053 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
*Including criminal complaints from third parties of which the loan guarantee cooperatives are aware.
**The reported delinquency amount corresponds to the volume of credits at the time they were granted. No account is taken of whether losses have effectively been incurred.
1 As of the commencement of the Covid-19-Solidarbürgschaftsgesetz (Covid-19-SBüG) (in German) on December 19, 2020, the prohibition to carry out new investments in fixed assets that are not replacement investments has been lifted (cf. Art. 27 para. 2 Covid-19-SBüG).
2 As of the commencement of the Covid-19-SBüG on December 19, 2020, already the decision on the payment of dividends is unlawful (cf. Art. 2 para. 2 lit. a Covid-19-SBüG and Official Bulletin: AB 2020 N 2040 of October 30, 2020, and AB 2020 S 1314 f. of December 10, 2020).
Last updated: 22.09.2021
In addition, the statistics from the Money Laundering Reporting Office (MROS) show all a) reports according to the Money Laundering Act or the Criminal Code, as well as b) the number of complaints filed by MROS with law enforcement agencies (according to Art. 23 para. 4 Money Laundering Act) . The MROS statistics can show cases that are also included in the above table of abuse reports.
Open cases after criminal complaint per canton
The following table shows the open cases after criminal complaints have been filed of which the loan guarantee cooperatives are aware, either because they filed the criminal complaints themselves or because they were informed about them by third parties. It is not complete with regard to criminal complaints of which the loan guarantee cooperatives have no knowledge. The statistics are updated on an ongoing basis.
| Canton | Criminal complaint filed: open cases* | |
| Number | Delinquency amount** | |
| AG | 96 | CHF 12'835'178 |
| AI | 1 | CHF 25'000 |
| AR | 10 | CHF 704'700 |
| BE | 71 | CHF 6'974'906 |
| BL | 36 | CHF 4'824'187 |
| BS | 30 | CHF 4'871'547 |
| FR | 30 | CHF 3'412'975 |
| GE | 89 | CHF 12'427'701 |
| GL | 1 | CHF 500'000 |
| GR | 14 | CHF 1'025'970 |
| JU | 3 | CHF 181'000 |
| LU | 38 | CHF 7'936'140 |
| NE | 8 | CHF 1'186'590 |
| NW | 7 | CHF 1'532'900 |
| OW | 3 | CHF 490'355 |
| SG | 39 | CHF 2'811'420 |
| SH | 8 | CHF 1'242'000 |
| SO | 22 | CHF 2'733'254 |
| SZ | 30 | CHF 3'969'966 |
| TG | 21 | CHF 2'639'000 |
| TI | 122 | CHF 13'506'060 |
| UR | 5 | CHF 219'640 |
| VD | 123 | CHF 18'241'036 |
| VS | 31 | CHF 2'788'552 |
| ZG | 50 | CHF 10'133'978 |
| ZH | 231 | CHF 30'869'988 |
| Total | 1'119 | CHF 148'084'043 |
|---|---|---|
*Including criminal complaints filed by third parties of which the loan guarantee cooperatives are aware.
**The reported delinquency amount corresponds to the volume of credits at the time they were granted. No account is taken of whether losses have effectively been incurred.
Last updated: 22.09.2021
Closed cases after criminal complaint
The table below shows the closed cases following a criminal complaint of which the loan guarantee cooperatives are aware, either because they filed the criminal complaints themselves or because they have been informed about them by third parties. It is not complete with regard to criminal complaints of which the loan guarantee cooperatives have no knowledge. The statistics are updated on an ongoing basis.
| Types of abuse (all types according to the ordinance) | No criminal proceedings: Non-prosecution | |||||
| Innocent | Reparation | Guilty | ||||
| Number | Number | Delinquency amount* | Number | Delinquency amount* | ||
| Multiple applications (Art. 3, para. 1) | 0 | 3 | 3 | CHF 472'400 | 15 | CHF 1'400'911 |
| Date of foundation (Art. 3, para. 1, a.) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | CHF 99'100 |
| In bankruptcy, estate or liquidation (Art. 3, para. 1, b.) | 1 | 2 | 1 | CHF 20'000 | 2 | CHF 60'000 |
| Sales information (Art. 7, para. 1) | 3 | 5 | 8 | CHF 661'055 | 10 | CHF 634'285 |
| Support for other emergency regulations (Art. 3, para. 1, d.) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Use of credit in general and replacement investments (Art. 6, para. 1 und 2)1 | 10 | 27 | 33 | CHF 3'492'426 | 58 | CHF 4'061'744 |
| Use of credit dividends, refinancing, etc. (Art. 6, para. 3)2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | CHF 240'000 | 1 | CHF 120'000 |
| Others | 1 | 7 | 10 | CHF 1'377'875 | 12 | CHF 606'774 |
| Total | 15 | 48 | 56 | CHF 6'263'756 | 101 | CHF 6'982'814 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
*The reported delinquency amount corresponds to the volume of credits at the time they were granted. No account is taken of whether losses have effectively been incurred.
1 As of the commencement of the Covid-19-Solidarbürgschaftsgesetz (Covid-19-SBüG) (in German) on December 19, 2020, the prohibition to carry out new investments in fixed assets that are not replacement investments has been lifted (cf. Art. 27 para. 2 Covid-19-SBüG).
2 As of the commencement of the Covid-19-SBüG on December 19, 2020, already the decision on the payment of dividends is unlawful (cf. Art. 2 para. 2 lit. a Covid-19-SBüG and Official Bulletin: AB 2020 N 2040 of October 30, 2020, and AB 2020 S 1314 f. of December 10, 2020).
Last updated: 22.09.2021
Banks: Participation list, documents and information
Here is a list of the 125 banks that have granted Covid-19 loans.
Bank-specific documents:
- Framework regarding Covid-19 loans up to CHF 500,000 for participating banks
- Guarantee contract (09.04.2020)
Bank-specific information:
- Swiss Bankers Association: www.swissbanking.org: Coronavirus – Swiss financial centre
- Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA: www.finma.ch | Media release of 25.03.2020
- Swiss National Bank SNB: www.snb.ch | Media release of 25.03.2020
Legal basis
- Bundesgesetz über Kredite mit Solidarbürgschaft infolge des Coronavirus (german) (18/12/2020)
- Botschaft zu Änderungen des Covid-19-Gesetzes und des Covid-19-Solidarbürgschaftsgesetzes (german) (18/11/2020)
- Botschaft zum Bundesgesetz über Kredite mit Solidarbürgschaft infolge des Coronavirus (german) (18/09/2020)
- Gesetzesentwurf über Kredite mit Solidarbürgschaft infolge des Coronavirus (german) (18/09/2020)
- Erläuternder Bericht der zum Covid-19-Solidarbürgschaftsgesetz (german) (01/07/2020)
- Gesetzestext der Vernehmlassung zum Covid-19-Solidarbürgschaftsgesetz (german) (01/07/2020)
- Joint guarantees emergency ordinance (25/03/2020)
- Explanatory notes to the emergency ordinance (14/04/2020)
Media releases
- Media release of 17/02/2021
Coronavirus: Bundesrat erweitert Unterstützung für grössere Unternehmen und Arbeitslose - Media release of 27/01/2021
Coronavirus: Bundesrat stockt Härtefallprogramm auf und stärkt Arbeitslosenversicherung - Media release of 13/01/2021:
Coronavirus: Bund baut Unterstützung über das Härtefallprogramm aus - Media release of 18/11/2020:
Coronavirus: Federal Council adjusts Covid-19 support measures to second wave - Media release of 18/09/2020:
Coronavirus: Federal Council adopts dispatch on new Joint and Several Guarantee Act - Media release of 01/07/2020:
Coronavirus: Emergency ordinance on Covid-19 credits to be incorporated into ordinary law - Media release of 15/05/2020:
Covid-19 Kredite: Konzept zur Missbrauchsbekämpfung verabschiedet (with first version of the audit concept for preventing abuse) - Media release of 03/04/2020:
Federal Council increases volume of liquidity assistance guarantees to CHF 40 billion - Media release of 25/03/2020:
Coronavirus: Federal Council adopts emergency ordinance on granting of credits with joint and several federal guarantees - Media release of 20/03/2020:
Coronavirus: Massnahmenpaket zur Abfederung der wirtschaftlichen Folgen
Parliamentary initiatives
The following table shows the parliamentary initiatives related to the Covid-19 bridging credits program.
| Type of initiative | Submitted by | Date of submission | Title of the initiative (only in French) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Question for Question Time | Mr. Samuel Bendahan (SP) | 15.09.2021 | Quelles mesures seront prises pour combattre les difficultés du secteur de la Restauration à rembourser les prêts COVID ? (21.7774) |
| Postulate | Mr. Hans-Peter Portmann (FDP) | 09.06.2021 | Entreprises et particuliers se déclarant en faillite pour contourner l’obligation de rembourser un crédit COVID-19 (21.3666) |
| Question for Question Time | Mrs. Daniela Schneeberger (FDP) | 09.06.2021 | Préciser l’art. 2, al. 6, de la loi sur les cautionnements solidaires liés au COVID-19 (21.7556) |
| Question for Question Time | Mrs. Doris Fiala (FDP) | 08.06.2021 | La loi sur les cautionnements solidaires liés au COVID-19 ne doit pas être une entrave aux restructurations (21.7545) |
| Question for Question Time | Mrs. Daniela Schneeberger (FDP) | 02.06.2021 | Loi sur les cautionnements solidaires liés au COVID-19. Garantir la sécurité du droit pour les restructurations (21.7484) |
Other information
- Stellungnahmen aus der Vernehmlassung zum Covid-19-Solidarbürgschaftsgesetz (german)
- Current version of the audit concept for preventing abuse (german) (23/06/2020)
- Process graphic ” Covid-19 credit”
- Process graphic “Covid-19 plus credit”
- Fuhrer, Lucas Marc/Ramelet, Marc-Antoine/Tenhofen, Jörn (2020). Firms’ participation in the Covid-19 loan programme, SNB Working Papers No. 25/2020, Swiss National Bank.
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- KOF Konjunkturforschungsstelle ETH Zürich (2021). Firmenkonkurse schiessen im Mai nach oben. (german)