WASHINGTON - Finance officials from the world’s top economic powers endorsed a plan Friday aimed at preventing another financial crisis like the credit and mortgage debacles that erupted in the United States and quickly sent tremors around the globe.

“Rapid implementation” of the plan “will not only enhance the resilience of the global financial system for the longer term but should help to support confidence and improve the functioning of the markets,” the G7 officials said in a joint statement.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hosted the Group of Seven discussions, where officials embraced a plan that would seek to increase the openness, or transparency, of financial markets and to sharpen regulators’ response to urgent financial problems.

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Besides the United States, the other members of the G7 are Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada. Friday’s action preceded the weekend meetings of the 185-nation International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Risks to the United States and the global economy have intensified since finance officials from the Group of Seven countries last gathered here in October. Many economists now believe the United States has fallen into a recession and the odds of a worldwide downturn have risen sharply — to one in four — according to the IMF, a global financial firefighting institution.

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