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WASHINGTON — Four insurance companies on Friday asked the government to allow them to buy thrifts so they can qualify to receive federal money under the financial rescue program.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., Genworth Financial Inc., Lincoln National Corp. and Aegon NV, a Dutch company that owns U.S. insurer Transamerica, each asked the Office of Thrift Supervision for permission to acquire an existing savings and loan.

The deadline for filing applications was Friday. The Treasury Department agency confirmed that it received submissions from those four firms to become thrift holding companies.

Insurers that own thrifts, which are federally regulated, are eligible to apply for a piece of the $250 billion the government is spending to buy shares in banks and other financial companies. Thrifts differ from banks in that, by law, they must have at least 65 percent of their lending in consumer loans such as mortgages.

Hartford Financial said it expects to be eligible for between $1.1 billion and $3.4 billion in government bailout money.

Insurers that become thrift holding companies are under federal supervision and thereby qualify for the government bailout money. At least two dozen insurers already own thrifts.