Best countries in the world - ranked

Best Countries is a rankings, news and analysis project created to capture how countries are perceived on a global scale. Created by U.S. News in partnership with Y&R's BAV and Wharton, the rankings evaluate 80 countries across 24 rankings drawn from a survey of more than 21,000 global citizens, measuring 75 dimensions that have the potential to drive trade, travel and investment and directly affect national economies.

The top five countries are:

1. Switzerland
2. Canada
3. United Kingdom
4. Germany
5. Japan
   ...
6. Australia

In spite of living in an increasingly inter-connected world, the above rankings remind us that there are differences and indeed barriers that separate cultures across a wide range of categories. And it appears that according to this survey, some countries and cultures are more adept at combining their assets and skills into a successful combination.

One of these barriers is currency. While much of Europe agreed to reduce barriers through a range of pan-national laws and a common currency, most countries continue to rely on their own currency.

Trading currency is big business, with trillions traded in speculation and to pay for products and services moving around the world. A significant volume of funds are remitted annually from expats living abroad back to their home countries.

Traditionally this has been and continues to be a significant profit centre for the banks who move funds around the world through a complex and largely opaque network of correspondence banks.

But change is coming from a group of innovative companies that are leveraging technology to significantly reduce the costs and the time of transfer to deliver greater value to consumers and businesses.

One such innovator is Flash Payments, a brand new Australian company that has launched a real-time cross borders payment business, providing an ultra-competitive alternative to the existing opaque, siloed and inefficient banking networks.

This service is especially useful to expats transferring funds internationally between their home country and Australia.

Front and center at Flash Payments is a focus on delivering an exceptional user experience by delivering extraordinary control built on the latest technology. The system is so easy to use it makes you wonder just why banks continue to rely on an expensive, opaque and slow system to send money internationally.

With Flash Payments users pick the date; pick the rate; send funds like an email; track transfers like a package; all without any surprise charges. There are none.

So, whether you are a corporation or an individual you can now skip the banks and take control of your foreign exchange transfers.

Learn more about Flash Payments to benefit from cutting-edge technology, great rates, transparency and control.