Visa SVP Mark Jamison recently decried efforts by Google, Apple and other tech giants to enter the payment market. "No other company in this space has yet to deliver the customer density, global reach and scale that will be available through Visa's open platform," he affirmed.

Update: The article original stated that Visa purchased a 10 percent stake in Square, which is not accurate. Visa actually owns 10 percent of Square's class 'A' trading shares, which represents a much smaller stake, around 1 percent, of the company. In addition, it has owned the shares for several years, but only revealed the size of its stake recently. The article has been updated to reflect that information.