Morgan Stanley (MS) and other major U.S. banks aren't at risk of succumbing to the same fate as Lehman Brothers, which fell victim to the 2008 financial crisis, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner assured senators on Thursday.

When asked at a Senate Banking Committee whether the euro-zone sovereign debt crisis could bring down Morgan Stanley or another major financial institution, Geithner said, "Absolutely not."

The largest U.S. firms are much stronger than they were before the crisis, and the direct exposure of the financial system to European countries under the most pressure is "very modest," he said.

However, given Europe's size and interconnectedness, Geithner said leaders there need to "move more aggressively to address this."

-By Tom Barkley and Jeffrey Sparshott, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9275; tom.barkley@dowjones.com

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