September 16, 2015 - A US judge has given a group of banks the go-ahead for a class action lawsuit against Target over the massive 2013 data breach at the US retail chain.

US district judge Paul Magnuson certified the class action, paving the way for the banks to jointly pursue their claims over the cyber break-in, which saw thieves steal the card details of tens of millions of customers.

The banks bringing the class action - Umpqua Bank, Mutual Bank, Village Bank, CSE Federal Credit Union and First Federal Savings of Lorain - say that the breach forced them to reissue around 25,000 cards, at a cost of $30 million.

A spokeswoman for Target, Molly Snyder, told Reuters that the company was "disappointed" and will now evaluate what to do next. A settlement could now be on the cards.

Some banks have already settled. Target and Visa reached an agreement of up to $67 million to reimburse member banks several weeks ago. However, an earlier $19 million deal with MasterCard fell through because not enough banks signed off on it.