AIFUL Wins “AI Agent Award” at GENIAC PRIZE —Significantly shortening corporate loan screening processes through AI agent automation—

AIFUL CORPORATION (President & CEO: Mitsuhide Fukuda; hereinafter, “AIFUL”) pleased to announce that its “AI Agent–Based Corporate Loan Screening System,” developed with the support of Funnel Sphere LLC, has been selected as one of the eight finalists out of 56 applicants in the “GENIAC PRIZE,” promoted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), and has received the Special Award, the “AI Agent Award.”

This award is presented to initiatives that have developed and demonstrated highly innovative, technically advanced AI agents that are immediately applicable in real-world business operations. AIFUL’s “AI Agent-Based Corporate Loan Screening” was highly recognized for successfully combining practical applicability with a high level of technological sophistication.

Traditional corporate loan screening processes have faced challenges such as fragmented information, heavy document processing workloads, and reliance on individual expertise, resulting in an average processing time of approximately six days.
The developed program enables a seamless, end-to-end process—from chat-based application intake to AI-driven document analysis, additional information requests, and risk assessment. This innovation significantly reduces processing time, enabling faster access to financing for customers while achieving substantial operational efficiency.

The GENIAC PRIZE is an initiative conducted as part of the “GENIAC” project, promoted by METI and NEDO, to accelerate the social implementation of generative AI.
Launched in February 2024, GENIAC aims to strengthen Japan’s capabilities in developing foundational generative AI models. Through NEDO’s prize-based program (NEDO Challenge), the initiative sets specific social challenges and needs that can be addressed by generative AI. It invites applications for generative AI solutions developed and demonstrated based on these themes and awards prizes to outstanding initiatives. This program promotes the development and real-world deployment of generative AI services across various regions and industries.

For more details: GENIAC PRIZE (NEDO Challenge Program)（In Japanese)

To realize its long-term vision, “Transformation Towards an IT COMPANY - Aiming to Become a Company that Lasts 100 Years -” the AIFUL Group is committed to “flexibly addressing customer needs through in-house development of systems and UI/UX.”
Through M&A activities, the Group has strengthened its engineering capabilities and technological foundation by integrating IT companies engaged in businesses such as system engineering services (SES). Leveraging these resources, the Group is advancing in-house development while actively adopting cutting-edge AI technologies in its operations.
By doing so, the Group aims to achieve both operational efficiency and enhanced customer experience (UX), further solidifying its transformation into an IT-driven company.