Switzerland
In Switzerland, the company registry is the cantonal Commercial Register, indexed free on Zefix.
- Official company register
- Commercial Register (Handelsregister / Registre du commerce / Registro di commercio); central index Zefix
- Free online search
- Yes
- Company identifier
- UID (enterprise identification number), format CHE-123.456.789
- Who can see beneficial owners
- Obliged entities and authorities only
- Data access for developers
- Free API
- Company search
- zefix.admin.ch
- Checked on
Search Swiss companies free on Zefix, the federal index of the cantonal commercial registers, which shows name, UID, legal form, seat and status. Certified extracts come from the cantonal offices, at fees between CHF 10 and 120 under the federal fee ordinance. The Swiss Transparency Register starts on 1 October 2026 and is not public; only authorities, financial intermediaries and advisers can use it for their statutory tasks. Companies are identified by the UID, format CHE-123.456.789.
- Region
- Europe
- Run by
- Cantonal commercial register offices; Zefix run by the Federal Commercial Registry Office (Federal Office of Justice)
- Registry website
- bj.admin.ch
- Visible for free
- Central register data via Zefix (name, UID, legal form, seat, status, links to cantonal register data); daily-updated core data on active entities as open data
- Paid documents and fees
- Fees set by the federal fee ordinance (GebV-HReg, annex 5.1) and charged by the cantons: certified extract CHF 10 to 120; copies of filings and supporting documents CHF 10 to 120; certificate that an entity is not registered CHF 10 to 120
- Beneficial ownership register
- Swiss Transparency Register (Schweizerisches Transparenzregister)
- Beneficial ownership access in detail
- The Swiss Transparency Register, kept by the Federal Office of Justice under a law in force from 1 October 2026, is not public. Access is limited to the control office, authorities named in the law, and financial intermediaries and advisers, only to fulfill their statutory tasks.
- Beneficial ownership register website
- transpareg.admin.ch
- API or data service
- Free: https://www.zefix.admin.ch/ZefixPublicREST/
- Search interface languages
- German, French, Italian, English
- What to know before a KYB check
- Cantons keep the commercial register; Zefix is the federal index, and cantonal extracts are the reference documents. The Transparency Register starts on 1 October 2026, so most entities have no UBO data in it yet.
- Sources
Page URL BJ - Handelsregister, Zefix und Regix https://www.bj.admin.ch/de/handelsregister-zefix-und-regix opendata.swiss - Zefix Central Business Name Index https://opendata.swiss/en/dataset/zefix-zentraler-firmenindex BJ - GebV-HReg preprint (fee ordinance) https://www.bj.admin.ch/dam/it/sd-web/6P-MydxbLmTJ/gebv-hreg.pdf BJ - Schweizerisches Transparenzregister https://www.bj.admin.ch/de/schweizerisches-transparenzregister Transparenzregister homepage https://www.transpareg.admin.ch/de/ Transparenzregister - Fragen und Antworten https://www.transpareg.admin.ch/de/fragen-antworten ESTV - Unternehmens-Identifikationsnummer (UID) https://www.estv.admin.ch/de/unternehmens-identifikationsnummer-uid - Verification
- Some fields unverified
Questions
What does Zefix show?
How much is a Swiss commercial register extract?
Is the Swiss Transparency Register public?
Sources: each listing is compiled from the registry’s own website, the government body that runs it, official fee schedules and legislation, and the EU e-Justice portal. Every source is linked on the listing with the date it was checked. How we compile this reference