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 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.

(Editing by Bill Trott)