Buster Hein (9:25 am PDT, Sep 29th)

Apple Pay, the new mobile payments system that unshackles iPhone users their wallets – will only be available in the U.S. when it launches next month, but Apple’s is already hiring a team to expand its mobile payments into Europe.

Mary Carol Harris has been poached away from Visa by Apple where she was the director of mobile at Visa Europe since 2008, and she’s also got some expertise with NFC too.

Apple Pay promises to change the way users pay for items by using contactless payment technology built into the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch. Rather than abolishing credit card companies completely though, Apple Pay replaces them with generic versions in Passbook, with the important financial info stored in a secure enclave.

Harris joins Apple with 14 years of experience in digital and mobile payments. She previously ran the NFC division at Telefonica, before joining Visa where she served as VP and head of strategic alliances and projects in mobile.

Harris has a deep experience creating mobile payments systems and one was one the pioneers for SMS and mobile payment schemes in developing markets. Apple is hoping to replicate the deals it lined up with US banks with financial companies in Europe as well, though no partnerships have been announced at this time.

Here’s a clip of Apple’s new hire discussing the future of mobile payments earlier this year:

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