Sberbank CEO Hermann Gref has warned Russians of pending economic challenges in 2016.

      The country’s biggest lender expects a more favourable environment for the banking sector while the economy will remain under pressure.

      Reforms are need to jump-start it, insists Gref.

      In the meantime, Sberbank is facing additional sanctions imposed by the US over the Ukraine crisis, which might undermine the bank’s plans to make its way into the world’s Top-10 banks in terms of revenues by 2018, as Russia-IC reported earlier.

      The five-year road map is said to set an ambitious goal to triple or even quadruple the current revenue figures, according to RBC Daily. That would mean a target of $30-40 billion, on par with the biggest Chinese banks.

      Led by former Economic Development Minister Hermann Gref, Sberbank is Russia’s largest bank, with a majority stake owned by the state.