The banking foundations, a total of 86 in number, are private, non-profit legal entities that pursue exclusively social benefit purposes and the promotion of economic development, in accordance with their statutes.

They are subject to the supervision of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which exercises the ordinary and extraordinary powers of control expressly provided for by Legislative Decree 153/99, and which, in general, verifies compliance with the law and the statutes, the sound and prudent management of the foundations, the profitability of the assets, and the effective protection of the interests envisaged by the statutes.
On 22 April 2015, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Mef and L'Acril ’associazione di fondazioni e casse di risparmio spa (association of foundations and savings banks), representing 85 members (now 83 member foundations).

This agreement marked the start of the self-reform of the banking foundations, which undertook to adopt an adequate portfolio diversification strategy in order to contain risk concentration, not to use their assets, directly or indirectly, in exposures to a single entity for an overall amount exceeding one third of total balance sheet assets, to avoid, in compliance with the principle of capital preservation, any form of borrowing except in the case of temporary and limited liquidity needs, and to use derivative contracts and financial instruments for hedging purposes, or to resort to transactions where there is no risk of capital losses.

In addition to the measures adopted in the economic-financial field, by means of the memorandum the foundations also undertook to redefine the aspects concerning governance and, in particular, the economic remuneration of the members of their bodies, the appointment procedures aimed at ensuring the presence of the least represented gender, to identify cases of incompatibility that may jeopardise the free and independent performance of the functions of the bodies, taking into account, in particular, political offices, and to implement specific procedures to enhance compliance with the principle of transparency.

There are 86 banking foundations supervised by the Department of the Economy.