An employee of the Korea Exchange Bank counts one hundred dollar notes at the bank's headquarters in Seoul February 24, 2009. REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government plans to invite wealthy investors to invest in the bailout of the crippled financial system, The Washington Post reported on Friday.

The investors would be invited to buy up recently issued, highly rated securities that finance consumer lending -- without the risk of massive losses, the report said.

The idea is to entice the investors to put their huge cash piles to work to stimulate the financial system, the Post said.

The program, which could involve the government lending nearly $1 trillion to these investors, exceeds the size of every other federal effort to address the financial crisis so far, the newspaper said.

The initiative adopts an approach that could be the model for future federal efforts to aid the credit markets, sources familiar with government planning were quoted as saying.