The foundation was in fact the original statutory corporation of Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

Due to Legge Amato, in 1995 there was a separation: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena became the company controlling the banking business, meanwhile the statutory corporation became Fondazione MPS, a foundation and private legal person which held the bank's shares.

Between 1999 and 2000, FMPS's assets began substantially increasing as an effect of the bank's public listing in the stock market.

At this point, FMPS's stake in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena was €4,805,805,166 and included 45.9% of all ordinary shares.

[12][13] As of 31 December 2020, the foundation reported on its balance sheets assets of €543,836,006, down almost 92% from 2008's all-time high, and down almost 80% from 1996's starting point.

The stake in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena's capital dropped to just 0.003% of the bank's shares, an almost insignificant amount of FMPS's assets.