Through the Corporation’s website at www.northerntrust.com, the Corporation makes available free of charge its Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and all other reports and all amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (Exchange Act), as soon as reasonably practicable after it files such material with, or furnishes such material to, the SEC. The contents of the Corporation’s website, the website of the SEC or any other website referenced herein are not a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

In the normal course of our business activities, we are exposed to a variety of risks. The following discussion sets forth the risk factors that we have identified as being most significant to Northern Trust. Although we discuss these risk factors primarily in the context of their potential effects on our business, financial condition or results of operations, you should understand that these effects can have further negative implications such as: reducing the price of our common stock and other securities; reducing our capital, which can have regulatory and other consequences; affecting the confidence that clients, and counterparties and/or applicable regulators have in us, with a resulting negative effect on our ability to conduct and grow our businesses; and reducing the attractiveness of our securities to rating agencies and potential purchasers, which may affect adversely our ability to raise capital and secure other funding or the cost at which we are able to do so. Further, additional risks beyond those discussed below, elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K or in other of our reports filed with, or furnished to, the SEC also could affect us adversely. We cannot assure you that the risk factors herein or elsewhere in our other reports address all potential risks that we may face.

Our principal operational focus is on fee-based business, which is distinct from commercial banking institutions that earn most of their revenues from loans and other traditional interest-generating products and services. Fees for many of our products and services are based on the market value of assets under management, custody or administration; the volume of transactions processed; securities lending volume and spreads; and fees for other services rendered, all of which may be impacted negatively by market volatility, a downturn in economic conditions, underperformance and/or negative trends in investment preferences. For example, downturns in equity markets and decreases in the value of debt-related investments

resulting from market disruption, illiquidity or other factors historically have reduced the valuations of the assets we manage or service for others, which generally impacted our earnings negatively. Market volatility and/or weak economic conditions also may affect wealth creation, investment preferences, trading activities, and savings patterns, which impact demand for certain products and services that we provide.

The direction and level of interest rates are important factors in our earnings. AlthoughIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Reserve Board has raised the target Federal Funds rate range in recent years,further reduced interest rates, which generally remainhad already been low relative to historical levels. Low interest rate environments haveThis has had, in the past, and may continue to have, in the future, a negative impact on our net interest margin, which is the difference between what we earn on our assets and the interest rates we pay for deposits and other sources of funding. Low interest rateLow-interest-rate environments also have historically had a negative impact on our fees earned on certain of our products. For example, in the past, we have from time to time waived certain fees associated with money market mutual funds due to the low level of short-term interest rate levels. While we did not implement any such fee waivers in 2018, we may do so in the future if short-term interest rate levels decline.rates. Low net interest margins and fee waivers each negatively impact our earnings.

The monetary, trade and other policies of U.S. and international governments, agencies and regulatory bodies have a significant impact on interest rateseconomic conditions and overall financial market performance. For example, the Federal Reserve Board regulates the supply of money and credit in the United States, and its policies determine in large part the level of interest rates and our cost of funds for lending and investing, which are important factors in our earnings. The actions of the Federal Reserve Board or other regulatory authorities also may reduce the value of financial instruments we hold. Further, their policies can affect our borrowers by increasing interest rates or making sources of funding less available, which may increase the risk that borrowers fail to repay their loans from us. Changes in monetary, trade and other governmental policies are beyond our control and can be difficult to predict, and we cannot determine the ultimate effect that any such changes would have upon our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Risks and concerns about the financial stability of various regions or countries across the globe could have a detrimental impact on economic and market conditions in these or other markets across the world. Foreign market and economic disruptions have affected, and may continue toin the future affect, consumer confidence levels and spending, personal bankruptcy rates, levels of incurrence of and default on consumer debt, and home prices. Economic challenges faced in various foreign markets, including negative interest rates in some jurisdictions, or lack of confidence in the financial markets may adversely affect certain portions of our business, financial condition, and any disruptions related to such challenges, may impact our earnings negatively.results of operations.

Our investment securities portfolio represents a greater proportion, and our loan and lease portfolios represent a smaller proportion, of our total consolidated assets in comparison to many other financial institutions. The value of securities available for sale and held to maturity within our investment portfolio, which is generally determined based upon market

We provide foreign exchange services to our clients, primarily in connection with our global custody business. Foreign currency volatility influences our foreign exchange trading income as does the level of client activity. Foreign currency volatility and changes in client activity may result in reduced foreign exchange trading income. Fluctuations in exchange rates may raise the potential for losses resulting from foreign currency trading positions, where aggregate obligations to purchase and sell a currency other than the U.S. dollar do not offset each other or offset each other in different time periods. We also are exposed to non-trading foreign currency risk as a result of our holdings of non-U.S. dollar denominated assets and liabilities, investments in non-U.S. subsidiaries, and future non-U.S. dollar denominated revenue and expense.

In past periods, reductions in the volatility of currency-trading markets, the level of cross-border investing activity, and the demand for borrowing securities or willingness to lend such securities have affected our earnings from activities such as foreign exchange trading and securities lending negatively. If these conditions occur in the future, our earnings from these activities may be affected negatively. In a few of our businesses, such as securities lending, our fee is calculated as a percentage of our client’sclients’ earnings, such that market and other factors that reduce our clients’ earnings from investments or trading activities also reduce our revenues. For example, the global financial crisis of 2007-08 and resultant period of economic turmoil and financial market disruption produced losses in some securities lending programs, reduced borrower demand and led some clients to withdraw from these programs. A return of these conditions in the future could result in additional withdrawals and decreased activity, which could impact our earnings negatively.

We regularly assess and monitor operational risk in our businesses. Despite our efforts to assess and monitor operational risk, our risk management program may not be effective in all cases. Factors that can impact operations and expose us to risks varying in size, scale and scope include:

While we have in place many controls and business continuity plans designed to address many of these factors, these plans may not operate successfully to mitigate these risks effectively. We also may fail to identify or fully understand the implications and risks associated with changes in the financial markets or our businesses—particularly as we expand our geographic footprint, product pipeline and client types—types evolve—and consequently fail to enhance our controls and business continuity plans to address those changes in an adequate or timely fashion. If our controls and business continuity plans do not address the factors noted above and operate to mitigate the associated risks successfully, such factors may have a negative impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations. In addition, an important aspect of managing our operational risk is creating a risk culture in which all employees fully understand that there is risk in every aspect of our business and the importance of managing risk as it relates to their job functions. We continue to enhance our risk management program to support our risk culture, ensuring that it is sustainable and appropriate for our role as a major financial institution. Nonetheless, if we fail to provide the appropriate environment that sensitizes all of our employees to managing risk, our business could be impacted adversely.

Any failure, interruption or breach in the security of our systems could severely disrupt our operations. Our systems involve the use of clients’ and our proprietary and confidential information, and security breaches, including cyber-attacks, could expose us to a risk of theft, loss or other misappropriation of this information. Our security measures may be breached due to the actions of outside parties, employee error, failure of our controls with respect to granting access to our systems, malfeasance or otherwise, and, as a result, an unauthorized party may obtain access to our or our clients’ proprietary and confidential information, resulting in the theft, loss, destruction, gathering, monitoring, or other misappropriation of this information. Regulators globally are also introducing the potential for greater monetary fines on institutions that suffer from breaches leading to the theft, loss or other misappropriation of such information. For example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which was adopted byMost states, the EU in 2016 and became effective in May 2018, establishes new requirements regarding the handlingother non-U.S. jurisdictions also have adopted their own statutes and/or regulations concerning data privacy and security and requiring notification of personal information. Noncompliance with the GDPR may result in monetary penalties of up to 4% of worldwide revenue. The GDPRdata breaches. These and other changes in laws or regulations associated with the enhanced protection of personal and other types of information could greatly increase the size of potential fines related to the protection of such information.

number of factors, including events that are wholly or partially beyond our control, which could have a negative effect on our ability to conduct our business activities.

In our asset servicing, investment management, fiduciary administration and other business activities, we effect or process transactions for clients and for ourselves that involve very large amounts of money. Failure to manage or mitigate operational risks properly can have adverse consequences, and increased volatility in the financial markets may increase the magnitude of resulting losses. For example, in the third quarter of 2020 we incurred a $43.4 million charge related to a corporate action processing error. Given the high volume of transactions we process, errors that affect earnings may be repeated or compounded before they are discovered and corrected.

Our businesses depend on information technology infrastructure, both internal and external, to record and process, among other things, a large volume of increasingly complex transactions and other data, in many currencies, on a daily basis, across numerous and diverse markets and jurisdictions. Due to our dependence on technology and the important role it plays in our business operations, we must constantly improve and update our information technology infrastructure. Upgrading, replacing, and modernizing these systems can require significant resources and often involves implementation, integration and security risks that could cause financial, reputational and operational harm. Failure to ensure adequate review and consideration of critical business and regulatory issues prior to and during the introduction and deployment of key technological systems or failure to align operational capabilities adequately with evolving client commitments and expectations may have a negative impact on our results of operations. The failure to respond properly to, and invest in, changes and advancements in technology could limit our ability to attract and retain clients, prevent us from offering products and services comparable to those offered by our competitors, inhibit our ability to meet regulatory requirements or otherwise have a material adverse effect on our operations.

We use various systems and models in analyzing and monitoring several risk categories, as well as for other business purposes. However, these systems and models are inherently limited because they involve techniques and judgments that cannot anticipate every economic and financial outcome in the markets in which we operate, nor can they anticipate the specifics and timing of such outcomes. Further, these systems and models may fail to quantify accurately the magnitude of the risks we face. Our measurement methodologies rely on many assumptions and historical analyses and correlations. These assumptions may be incorrect, and the historical correlations on which we rely may not continue to be relevant. Consequently, the measurements that we make may not adequately capture or express the true risk profiles of our businesses or provide accurate data for other business purposes, each of which ultimately could have a negative impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Errors in the underlying model or model assumptions, or inadequate model assumptions, could result in unanticipated and adverse consequences, including material loss or noncompliance with regulatory requirements or expectations.

We regularly review and update our internal controls, disclosure controls and procedures, and corporate governance policies and procedures. Any system of controls, however well designed and operated, is based in part on certain

Third-party vendors provide key components of our business operations such as data processing, recording and monitoring transactions, online banking interfaces and services, and network access. Our use of third-party vendors exposes us to the risk that such vendors may not comply with their servicing and other contractual obligations to us, including with respect to indemnification and information security, and to the risk that we may not satisfy applicable regulatory responsibilities regarding the management and oversight of third parties and outsourcing providers. While we have established risk management processes and continuity plans, any disruptions in service from a key vendor for any reason or poor performance of services could have a negative effect on our ability to deliver products and services to our clients and conduct our business. Replacing these third-party vendors or performing the tasks they perform for ourselves could create significant delay and expense.

In conducting our U.S. and non-U.S. business, we are subject to risks of loss from various unfavorable political, economic, legal or other developments, including social or political instability, changes in governmental policies or policies of central banks, expropriation, nationalization, confiscation of assets, price controls, capital controls, exchange controls, unfavorable tax rates and tax court rulings and changes in laws and regulations. Less mature and often less regulated business and investment environments heighten these risks in various emerging markets, in which we have been expanding our business activities.markets. Our non-U.S. operations accounted for 34%28% of our revenue in 2018.2020. Our non-U.S. businesses are subject to extensive regulation by various non-U.S. regulators, including governments, securities exchanges, central banks and other regulatory bodies in the jurisdictions in which those businesses operate. In many countries, the laws and regulations applicable to the financial services industry are uncertain and evolving and may be applied with extra scrutiny to foreign companies. Moreover, the regulatory and supervisory standards and expectations in one jurisdiction may not conform with standards or expectations in other jurisdictions. Even within a particular jurisdiction, the standards and expectations of multiple supervisory agencies exercising authority over our affairs may not be harmonized fully. Accordingly, it may be difficult for us to determine the exact requirements of local laws in every market or manage our relationships with multiple regulators in various jurisdictions. Our inability to remain in compliance with local laws in a particular market and manage our relationships with regulators could have an adverse effect not only on our businesses in that market but also on our reputation generally. The failure to mitigate properly such risks or the failure of our operating infrastructure to support such international activities could result in operational failures and regulatory fines or sanctions, which could affect our business and results of operations adversely.

Our success in controlling the costs and expenses of our business operations also impacts operating results. Through various parts of our business strategy, we aim to produce efficiencies in operations that help reduce and control costs and expenses, including the costs of losses associated with operating risks attributable to servicing and managing financial assets. Failure to control these and other costs could affect our earnings negatively and reduce our competitive position. In October 2017, we announced our “Value for Spend” expense management initiative, through which we intend to realize $250 million in expense run-rate savings by 2020 through improved organizational alignment, process optimization and strategic sourcing. Although we have made progress toward achieving this level of expense run-rate savings, we cannot provide assurance that the overall “Value for Spend” initiative will be successful, nor can we predict its overall effect on our financial condition or results of operations.

ActsPandemics, natural disasters, global climate change, acts of terrorism, natural disasters, pandemics, global conflicts or other similar catastrophic events couldhave in the past, and may in the future have, a negative impact on our business and operations. While we have in place business continuity plans, such events couldmay still damage our facilities, disrupt or delay the normal operations of our business (including communications and technology), result in harm to or cause travel limitations on our employees, and have a similar impact on our clients, suppliers, third-party vendors and counterparties. These events also could impact the purchase of our products and servicesus negatively to the extent that those acts or conflictsthey result in reduced capital markets activity, lower asset price levels, or disruptions in general economic activity in the United States or abroad, or in financial market settlement functions. In addition, war, terror attacks, political unrest, global conflicts, national and global efforts to combat terrorism and other potential military activities and outbreaks of hostilitiesthese or similar events may impact economic growth negatively, which could have an adverse effect on our business and operations, and may have other adverse effects on us in ways that we are unable to predict. Please see “COVID-19 Pandemic-Related Risks” in this “Risk Factors” section for a description of risks associated with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

We evaluate extensions of credit before we make them and then provide for credit risks based on our assessment of the credit losses inherent in our loan portfolio, including undrawn credit commitments. This process requires us to make difficult and complex judgments. Challenges associated with our credit risk assessments include identifying the proper factors to be used in assessments and accurately estimating the impacts of those factors. Allowances that prove to be inadequate may require us to realize increased provisions for credit losses or write down the value of certain assets on our balance sheet, which in turn would affect earnings negatively.

Credit risk levels and our earnings also can be affected by market volatility and/or weakness in the economy in general and in the particular locales in which we extend credit, a deterioration in credit quality or a reduced demand for credit. Adverse changes in the financial performance or condition of our borrowers resulting from market volatility and/or weakened economic conditions could impact the borrowers’ abilities to repay outstanding loans, which could in turn impact our financial condition and results of operations negatively.

The following sets forth certain information with regard to each executive officer of the Corporation.

Our common stock is listed on The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC under the symbol “NTRS.” There were 1,8051,643 shareholders of record as of January 31, 2019.2021.