U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Sunday that help from the private sector was critical to get toxic assets off banks' balance sheets and help resolve a credit crisis.

Our judgment is that the best way to get through this is if we can work with the markets, Geithner said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. We don't want the government to assume all the risk. We want the private sector to work with us.

Geithner is set to reveal details on Monday of a plan to set up public-private investment funds that could buy up to $1 trillion in troubled loans and securities at the heart of the financial crisis.

The Journal said Treasury believes participants in the program shouldn't be subject to executive-pay rules imposed by Congress. The law authorizing a $700-billion bailout and a provision in a $787-billion stimulus package impose tough pay restrictions on firms that receive government funds, including limits on bonuses.

(Reporting by Glenn Somerville)

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