Typically ~seconds in the UK with Faster Payments (which is generally up to £10,000)
It's like saying that banks allow you to send money instantly, because you can just give cash to your friend by hand.
Giving cash to a friend still requires me to withdraw the cash from an ATM, pass it to the friend, who then needs to deposit it using a deposit ATM or visit his branch.
One involves a few clicks on your online banking website, the other requires a much longer process. The backend company isn't really relevant, what is relevant is that 'Faster Payments' has been used as a marketing term for 'near instant bank transfers' that transparently use FPSL as a backend.
Not at all equivalent.