Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is set to use artificial intelligence to screen start-up companies in Japan for loans as early as next fiscal year.

Start-up firms often run up losses until their business gets on track. They usually do not own property that can be used as collateral, preventing them from getting loans approved.

MUFG plans to adopt AI to provide real-time data analysis to judge a company's growth potential and speed up the screening procedure.

The metrics include sales, payments to clients and the number of users. The group also plans to provide advice on the business to help it grow.

MUFG President and Group CEO, Kamezawa Hironori, said " If we can support startups in this way, we think more people will be able to take on the challenge. We can also grow as a financial institution, and create an excellent win-win cycle."

Kamezawa said the group has already been using the system overseas including in Southeast Asia.