Zug,09.01.2018

Number of new firms registered in canton up by 19%

Latest statistics published by the Zug Registry of Companies showed that 670 new firms were registered in the canton over the course of 2017, representing an increase of 19% on the previous year. What is more, the canton now accepts payment of fees by some new digital currencies.

This figure of 670 over the year 2017 represents a huge increase when compared with the 310 new firms registered in 2016, as Andreas Hess, the head of the Company Registry and Bankruptcy Office confirmed. The last time there was a major increase in firms in comparison with a previous year was in 2008, when 2,231 new firms were registered, compared with 1,869 in 2007. In all, the end of 2017 saw 31,919 firms registered in the canton, compared with 31,249 at the end of 2016.

Numbering 17,572, AG companies are by far the most common form of company registered (up by 212 on last year) followed by GmbH companies which number 9,245 (up by 413 on last year).

What has particularly led to an increase in companies being recorded over the course of last year has been more firms dealing with digitisation and digital currencies being set up. Indeed. as Hess further explained, the Company Registry in Zug is the first in the country to accept contribution in-kind with bitcoin and increase in capital with ether. Furthermore, since 2 November it has been possible to pay registration fees with these two digital currencies.

In a further step on the digitisation front, once registration and associated documentation has been read and certified electronically, the paper documents will be destroyed, though paper documentation relating to companies previously registered will continue to be kept.
 
What is more, the Zug Company Registry is partner in a project relating to the digitisation process in the setting up of AG and GmbH companies with the help of blockchain technology, the idea being to make the process quicker and simpler, not to mention ensuring increased security and moving towards more paper-free registration.