The European Commission has formally scrapped its plan to pressure Europe's systemically important banks to split their trading activities from their core deposit-taking activities, reports the FT. The move brings to an end attempts by the Commission to set EU rules on the separation of retail and investment banking following the global financial crisis. EU officials said it had been impossible to secure agreement among MEPs and national governments, with a Commission spokesperson saying the world had "moved on" since the proposals were tabled: major banks had reduced trading operations and regulators had taken other steps to reduce systemic risks.