Visa, Mastercard can likely handle swipe-fee settlement bigger than $30 billion: judge

A federal judge said Friday that card issuers Visa and Mastercard could likely withstand a "substantially greater" settlement with merchants who argued they overpaid swipe fees than the proposed $30 billion settlement she rejected last week.

U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie of the Eastern District of New York provided that assessment in an 88-page opinion she released Friday, just three days after she rejected the preliminary $30 billion settlement.

The agreement would have lowered and capped swipe fees...