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The aim of this paper is to analyse the effect of the transformation from savings banks into commercial banks. The Spanish savings banks during the 2012-2014 period have been used as a "quasi-experiment" or as an example for other countries in which there are savings banks nowadays. The aim is to show if there are efficiency differences between banks and former savings banks. Then, at least in the first years after their transformation, savings banks are still achieving very positive results in social activities, and, besides, they are improving their economic results. These findings are useful for both potential transformations of savings banks in other European countries with this type of financial entities, and for future research with Latin America, Asia or Africa financial data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]