But the closures told only part of the story of branch reductions, the Reserve Bank found. “The portion of branches that are operating on reduced days and hours has increased and now appears to be about half of all branches operated by the major five banks,” it revealed in a research paper on Wednesday. Research by the Reserve Bank in 2020 indicated more than a dozen reasons why people felt it would be wrong for society to go cashless. In all, 355 branches were operating on reduced hours. The big five banks had also reduced ATM numbers from 2412 in 2019 to 2231 this year, and the closures were contributing to people turning away from cash as it got harder to use, according to the report.