Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the Italian bank that claims to be the world’s oldest, turned to the government on Friday for aid for the first time in its 537-year history, announcing it would ask for a €1.9bn ($2.5bn) capital injection.

MPS, founded in 1472 and based in the Tuscan city of Siena, is seen as the Italian bank most in need of a capital injection. Many of its Italian and European counterparts have already received state aid as they seek to survive the global financial crisis and to keep the flow of lending open to customers.