Smarter Payments, Higher Approvals: Worldline's AI-Powered Payment Routing unlocking new revenue streams

In 2025, it is projected that the digital payments market will reach a total transaction value of about $20.09 trillion, a figure that is only growing. Combine that with the rapidly-evolving world of digital payments, and it is no surprise that merchants are looking for ways to enhance transaction approval rates while minimizing costs. This is where Worldline’s game-changing Smart Routing service comes in, providing merchants with intelligent solutions for optimized payment processing and improved overall revenue.

It can be difficult for merchants to select the best acquirer for transactions. And poor routing choices have severe consequences: higher costs, lower approval rates, and, ultimately, lost sales and revenue. When you consider the millions of transactions processed daily, the need for an efficient, cost-effective routing system has never been clearer.

Worldline’s Smart Routing service is the answer. Developed thanks to years of expertise in the digital payments sphere, Smart Routing enables merchants to choose the most suitable acquirer for transactions, enhancing operational efficiency through the use of multiple routing mechanisms and AI. A clear win for merchants.

What is Smart Routing?

Payment processing is complicated, Smart Routing makes it simpler. In essence, the service applies different criteria to transaction data to select the most appropriate acquirer for each transaction. 

The key to this is the ability for merchants to set predefined routing rules. Each merchant is able to decide what is most important for them when it comes to choosing an acquirer for a transaction and Smart Routing does the rest, using filters and identifying where to send the transaction based on different attributes. 

Smart Routing opens the door to tailored solutions so that transactions can be routed:

• To the acquirer with the lowest interchange fee in order to reduce costs;
• To the acquirer that is most likely to accept the transaction, increasing approval rates;
• Between multiple acquirers, with volume configured by percentage for each depending on a merchant’s needs.

The list of routing criteria available to the merchant depends on the channel, vertical market, and regions in which the merchant operates. This makes Smart Routing a reliable way to help automate payment processing and make life easier in an increasingly hectic digital payments landscape.

AI takes routing to the next level

Worldline recognised the importance of leveraging AI for payments early on, seeing it as the key to seamless and efficient transactions and applying it to products to pass its benefits on to businesses. Smart Routing is the product of this forward-thinking policy as it harnesses AI for enhanced efficiency. 

The AI-powered  payment routing system works by analysing historical transaction data in real-time in order to select the optimal path for each transaction. Using machine learning for payment routing enables higher authorization rates for payments as each transaction is routed through the most favourable acquirers. This reduces unnecessary declines and provides a superior transaction experience.

The unique advantages of Worldline’s Smart Routing

Worldline’s Smart Routing sets itself apart in other ways as well. Notably, an extensive multi-acquirer network, operating at both local and global levels, puts Worldline in a unique position.

With a multi-acquirer network, merchants are not locked into Worldline Acquiring. Rather, they can use Worldline’s acquiring service while still keeping existing relationships with banks. A fact that sets the company apart from other Payment Service Providers (PSPs). 

Smart Routing will then do the work of routing the transaction to the most appropriate acquirer. The service is further strengthened by the fact that merchants can set rules for each transaction – for example by currency, transaction amount, card type and scheme type, among others. Smart Routing will always deliver the highest authorisation rates at the lowest cost, both online and offline.

How can merchants benefit?

For merchants, the benefits of Worldline’s Smart Routing don’t end there. Rule-based routing and AI enhancements will not just improve approval rates, but merchants will also be able to take advantage of:

• Omnichannel capabilities: Smart Routing seamlessly bridges online and in-store payment processing. This allows merchants to manage transactions from multiple touchpoints with a single service.
• Better business continuity: an acquirer is unavailable? That is no longer a problem thanks to Smart Routing. Transactions can be seamlessly routed to a backup with no interruptions in service and happier customers.
• Reduced costs: transactions will be routed to the acquirer that will charge the lowest fee, helping to maximise profit margins with no extra effort.
• Easy integration: Smart Routing is simple to use and merchants can quickly and easily configure routing rules. This makes it straightforward to integrate into existing processes.

Why choose Worldline? 

With Worldline, businesses gain a true strategic partner, one backed by decades of expertise, for their payment ecosystems. Bringing together a combination of global presence and local expertise, Worldline works with some of the largest companies in the world, providing them with customisable solutions and multiple integration paths, matching any technical ability.

Worldline stays at the cutting-edge of technology, constantly working to ensure its solutions are at the forefront of payment innovations. Smart Routing in particular has been subject to rigorous testing. And the results have been more than promising, showing significant improvements in authorisation rates, as demonstrated by testimonials from clients. More specifically, rule-based routing brought an up to 3% improvement to authorisation rates and Smart Routing’s enhancement with AI led to a further 2% increase.

Trailblazing solutions like Smart Routing help to simplify and declutter an increasingly difficult-to-navigate digital payment landscape. By leveraging AI and proven expertise, it helps business to open new revenue streams through reduced costs and greater flexibility when it comes to payments - helping shape the future of payments for businesses worldwide.