Nuvei adds PINless debit and least cost routing

Finextra

25-07-2025

Nuvei today announced the addition of PINless debit and Least Cost Routing to its Authorization Optimization suite, improving its authorization rate for merchants in North America by up to 3.5 percentage points for applicable transactions.
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PINless debit and least cost routing are available now in the U.S., enabling eligible transactions to bypass traditional card rails in favor of lower-cost local debit networks. Nuvei continues to invest in foundational technology that uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics to improve payment routing, augment transaction flows, and optimize revenue recovery.
'These enhancements give merchants access to debit networks that can deliver both higher approval rates and lower processing costs,' said Phil Fayer, Chair and CEO of Nuvei. 'Our smart routing engine gives merchants the flexibility to prioritize maximum approvals or cost efficiency based on their business objectives. It's about putting optimization in their hands and helping them turn payments into profit.'
These enhancements are a key part of Nuvei's strategy to expand its footprint in North America by delivering locally optimized performance. As regulatory changes, issuer behavior, and consumer payment preferences evolve across the region, Nuvei's intelligent routing and authorization tools give merchants the control and flexibility needed to drive higher approvals, lower costs, and accelerate growth in one of the world's most competitive payments markets.
Smarter Routing That Drives Revenue
Nuvei's smart routing engine uses real-time AI and machine learning to analyze every transaction and determine the most effective path to approval based on issuer behavior, network logic, card metadata, and regional preferences. Key routing capabilities include:
Intelligent Routing – Routes transactions through the best-performing bank or card network
‍PINless Debit Routing (U.S.) – Routes eligible debit cards through lower-cost networks, with fallback to Visa/Mastercard
With debit transactions now making up over 53% of online card volumes in North America and recent regulatory changes enabling multi-network routing, Nuvei's enhanced smart routing helps merchants optimize margin, performance, and speed without adding operational complexity.
Intelligent Authorization That Maximizes Conversion
Nuvei's intelligent authorization stack ensures that once a transaction reaches the right place, it has the highest possible chance of being approved. These features work together to reduce friction, resolve soft declines, and adapt in real time to issuer requirements:
Smart Auth Messaging – Dynamically configures payloads and message formats based on issuer-specific logic
‍Network Tokens – Increases issuer trust and compatibility through Visa and Mastercard network tokens
‍One-Click Payments – Accelerates repeat transactions with frictionless token-based experiences
Smart Retry That Recovers Revenue Instantly
If a transaction fails, Nuvei's Smart Retry capabilities step in to recover revenue in real time, with no disruption to the customer experience. Built into the Authorization Optimization Suite, Smart Retry uses advanced decisioning logic to analyze failure reasons and automatically reattempt transactions through the most promising alternate paths.
Nuvei's Smart Retry engine includes:
Account Updater – Automatically refreshes expired or replaced card credentials
‍Bank Failover Routing – Routes the transaction to a backup bank or APM if the primary path declines
‍Auth Reconfiguration – Modifies message format dynamically based on issuer response codes
‍Full Visibility and Control with AI-Powered Insights
Nuvei's Control Layer provides merchants with deep visibility into performance, real-time alerts, and actionable analytics. By combining AI-powered tools with expert human support, Nuvei helps businesses not only understand how their payments are performing, but actively improve them.
Key analytics and insights tools include:
AI-Powered Approval Analysis – Automatically identifies unrealized approval opportunities by issuer, region, or transaction type
‍Performance Insights & Trend Monitoring – Tracks improvements in authorization success over time
‍Risk & Reporting Dashboards – Visualize fraud, scheme behavior, and exceptions in real time