Regarding the speed issue, my understanding is that when you make a transfer from, say, America to Thailand, your money is actually only going into Wise's American account. There's then a second transaction from Wise's Thai account to the senders Thai account, so no international transfer has even taken place (at that time).
Of course, the main reason why banking's now so much quicker is due to greater digital automation, with much less reliance on physical human intervention.
Like you, I'm certainly not complaining.