Behind the Build: Enhancing Nuvei’s Auth Optimization Suite with Pinless Debit Routing

Welcome to Behind the Build, our regular interview series spotlighting the product leaders behind Nuvei’s most impactful innovations. Each edition takes you inside the thinking, technology, and merchant benefits of what we’re launching and why.

In this edition, we sit down with Tim Cooper, Senior Product Manager of our Authorization Optimization Suite, to discuss the thinking behind the release of Nuvei’s Pinless Debit Routing and least-cost network selection. We dive into why it matters, where it fits in the broader context of optimizing authorizations, and how it helps merchants grow.

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Introductions

Francesca Bonnett: Tim, before we get into specifics, can you tell us a bit about your role at Nuvei and what drives your work?

Tim Cooper: Sure. I’m Tim and I’m a Senior Product Manager in our Authorization Optimization suite at Nuvei. My work focuses on building products that help merchants increase revenue by improving conversion, both for them and their customers. That includes everything from the cashier experience through to authorization and smart routing.  

I think what motivates me most is seeing our products deliver real results. When I see the numbers going up on our reports, that’s what really drives me. It's all about creating features that unlock additional revenue for our clients.

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How the payments landscape is changing

Francesca Bonnett: You mention additional revenue, historically-speaking, how have you seen businesses approaching payments optimization, and what’s changing?

Tim Cooper: I think payments used to be siloed as a cost centre, mostly managed by finance teams who focused on minimizing fees. That’s definitely changing, especially within enterprises. Payments are becoming a growth lever, not just a line item. Increasingly, businesses have dedicated payments managers whose KPIs center on conversion, smart routing, and maximizing revenue, not just minimizing cost.

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What is Nuvei's Authorization Optimization suite?

Francesca Bonnett: That brings us nicely to Nuvei’s Authorization Optimization suite. Can you give us a high-level overview?

Tim Cooper: Absolutely. The Authorization Optimization suite is built to improve the full lifecycle of a transaction. It starts at the cashier, when a customer decides to buy, and continues through intelligent routing, data formatting, and message-level optimization to increase the chances of approval. It’s the system intelligently deciding, in real time, how to get transactions approved fastest and most cost-effectively.

Why Nuvei built Pinless Debit Routing

Francesca Bonnett: Where does the release of Pinless Debit Routing fit into that suite and the customer journey?

Tim Cooper: It’s important to recognize that Pinless Debit by itself – processing a debit transaction without requiring a PIN - is table stakes today. What’s new is how we’ve enhanced our suite with least-cost, smart routing capabilities. By introducing Pinless Debit Routing, we bypass the PIN and intelligently route the transaction through the lowest-cost eligible debit network in real time, with fallback to Visa or Mastercard if needed.  

That drives higher approval rates, potentially lowers interchange fees, and delivers a smoother checkout - all powered by AI and machine learning. It’s a strategic extension to the suite, not just standalone functionality.

Early signs of success

Francesca Bonnett: And have you seen any tangible results in optimization since release?  

Tim Cooper: I’m happy to say we have. We’ve recorded as much as 3.5% uplifts in approvals rates for applicable transactions amongst our North American customers already using these new features.  

Given that debit now accounts for over half of online card volumes in North America, this is such a meaningful boost in both revenue retention and routing efficiency. Even a 1–2% net gain in approvals can mean large revenue recovery over time. Pair that with routing cost savings and it’s the kind of real-world impact we wanted to deliver at scale.

Why Nuvei launched this solution in North America? 

Francesca Bonnett: The numbers really speak for themselves, but why was now the right time for this rollout in North America?

Tim Cooper: We see North America at a tipping point: more debit volume, evolving issuer behavior, and regulatory shifts enabling multi-network routing. Our smart routing engine now gives merchants the flexibility to prioritize approval or cost efficiency based on business goals, all within the rich, real-time data environment.  

Fitting into Nuvei's payment strategy

Francesca Bonnett: Looking ahead, where does this fit into Nuvei’s wider product vision?

Tim Cooper: This enhancement builds on our goal of delivering a fully integrated, global payments platform. It’s not just about powering approval optimization, but providing predictable, data-rich operations across regions. It sets the foundation for future capabilities like programmable settlement flows, treasury tools, real-time payouts, and digital asset clearing.

Next steps

Francesca Bonnett: One final question: for merchants curious to adopt Pinless Debit Routing, where should they start?

Tim Cooper: Simply reach out to your Nuvei account team or contact us via the website. We can assess if it fits your flows, get you activated quickly, and help you start optimizing your approvals and cost dynamics right away.

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FAQs

‍Q: What is Pinless Debit Routing?
A: It’s an enhancement to Nuvei’s Authorization Optimization suite that lets debit transactions be processed without a PIN while intelligently routing them through the lowest-cost eligible network in real time.

Q: Why is routing intelligence better than standard pinless debit?
A: Standard pinless debit is most processors offer it. What’s new is Nuvei’s least-cost routing engine, which selects the optimal debit network per transaction. This reduces interchange fees, increases approval rates, and delivers a smoother customer experience.

Q: What benefits does Pinless Debit Routing bring to North American merchants?
A: Early adopters are seeing approval rates increase by up to 3.5 percentage points. With debit now representing over half of online card volume in North America, even a small improvement translates to significant recovered revenue. Merchants also benefit from cost savings on routing fees and reduced checkout friction for customers.

Q: How does it fit into Nuvei’s Authorization Optimization suite?
A: Pinless Debit Routing builds on Nuvei’s global suite of optimization tools, which package and route transactions to maximize conversion. It combines smart data enrichment, AI-driven network selection, and least-cost routing to give merchants better outcomes at authorization.

Q: What’s next for Nuvei’s optimization capabilities?
A: Future enhancements include deeper AI-powered routing, configurable merchant controls, treasury tools, real-time payouts, and support for emerging methods like digital asset clearing — all focused on helping merchants approve more transactions at the lowest cost.

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Want to learn more?

Explore how Nuvei’s enhanced Authorization Optimization suite can boost your approval rates, reduce costs, and recover lost revenue. Visit nuvei.com or contact your account representative.

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