SAN FRANCISCO, California - Wells Fargo & Company said Friday it plans to offer customers online safes for storing copies of wills, passports, tax records and other documents worth protecting.

The major US bank says its vSafe service will roll out this year as a first-of-its-kind virtual vault for storing digitized copies of precious paperwork.

"Customers trust us to keep and manage their information," Wells Fargo Internet services group executive vice president Jim Smith said in a written release.

"Compared to home filing systems, which can be difficult to maintain and organize, the vSafe service gives customers peace of mind because it's a safe place to store, organize and protect copies of private information."

Wells Fargo said online safes can protect document copies from theft and natural disasters while, unlike real-world vaults, being accessible from anywhere via the Internet.