Initial Registration Statement for Employee Benefit Plan (Form S-8)

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 30, 2026

Registration No. 333-

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-8

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

NORTHERN TRUST CORPORATION

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Northern Trust Corporation 2026 Employee Stock Purchase Plan

(Full title of the plan)

Susan C. Levy

Executive Vice President and General Counsel

50 South LaSalle Street

Chicago, Illinois 60603

(312) 630-6000

(Name, address, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer," "smaller reporting company," and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐

PART I

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE SECTION 10(a) PROSPECTUS

All information required by Part I to be contained in the prospectus is omitted from this Registration Statement in accordance with the explanatory note to Part I of Form S-8 and Rule 428 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). This Registration Statement on Form S-8 is filed by Northern Trust Corporation (the "Registrant") regarding the Northern Trust Corporation 2026 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the "Plan"). Documents containing the information required by Part I of the Registration Statement will be sent or given to Plan participants as specified by Rule 428(b)(1) under the Securities Act.

PART II

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

The following documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "Commission") by the Registrant are hereby incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement:

All documents subsequently filed by the Registrant with the Commission pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, after the date of this Registration Statement and prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement which indicates that all securities offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities then remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference herein and to be a part hereof from the respective dates of filing of such documents (such documents, and the documents enumerated above, being hereinafter referred to as "Incorporated Documents").

Any statement contained in an Incorporated Document shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any other subsequently filed Incorporated Document modifies or supersedes such statement. Any such statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this Registration Statement.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, unless specifically stated to the contrary, none of the information disclosed by the Registrant under Items 2.02 or 7.01 of any current report on Form 8-K, including the related exhibits under Item 9.01, that the Registrant may from time to time furnish to the Commission will be incorporated by reference into, or otherwise included in, this Registration Statement.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Section 102 of the Delaware General Corporation Law ("DGCL") allows a corporation to eliminate the personal liability of a director to the corporation or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, except in cases where the director breached his or her duty of loyalty to the corporation or its stockholders, failed to act in good faith, engaged in intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of the law, willfully or negligently authorized the unlawful payment of a dividend or approved an unlawful stock redemption or repurchase or obtained an improper personal benefit. Article Eleventh of the Registrant's Restated Certificate of Incorporation contains a provision which eliminates directors' personal liability as set forth above.

Article Eighth of the Registrant's Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides in effect that the Registrant will indemnify its directors and officers to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law. Section 145 of the DGCL provides that a Delaware corporation has the power to indemnify its directors, officers, employees and agents in certain circumstances. Subsection (a) of Section 145 of the DGCL empowers a corporation to indemnify any director, officer, employee or agent, or former director, officer, employee or agent, who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (other than an action by or in the right of the corporation), against expenses (including attorneys' fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred in connection with such action, suit or proceeding provided that such director, officer, employee or agent acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, provided that such director, officer, employee or agent had no reasonable cause to believe that his or her conduct was unlawful.

Subsection (b) of Section 145 of the DGCL empowers a corporation to indemnify any director, officer, employee or agent, or former director, officer, employee or agent, who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action or suit by or in the right of the corporation to procure a judgment in its favor by reason of the fact that such person acted in any of the capacities set forth above, against expenses (including attorneys' fees) actually and reasonably incurred in connection with the defense or settlement of such action or suit provided that such person acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation, except that no indemnification may be made in respect of any claim, issue or matter as to which such person has been adjudged to be liable to the corporation unless and only to the extent that the Court of Chancery or the court in which such action or suit was brought determines that despite the adjudication of liability such person is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnity for such expenses which the court deems proper.

Section 145 further provides that to the extent that a director or officer or employee of a corporation has been successful in the defense of any action, suit or proceeding referred to in subsections (a) and (b) or in the defense of any claim, issue or matter therein, he or she will be indemnified against expenses (including attorneys' fees) actually and reasonably incurred by him or her in connection therewith.

The Registrant has in effect insurance policies for general officers' and directors' liability insurance covering all of the Registrant's officers and directors.

Not applicable.

Item 9. Undertakings.

(a) The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:

(1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement:

(i) To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act;

(ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of the Registration Statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the Registration Statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of prospectus filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent no more than 20% change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth in the "Calculation of Filing Fee Tables" or "Calculation of Registration Fee" table, as applicable, in the effective registration statement; and

(iii) To include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the Registration Statement or any material change to such information in the Registration Statement;

provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the Registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement.

(2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.

(b) The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the Registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan's annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(c) Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, on April 30, 2026.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below hereby constitutes and appoints Michael G. O'Grady, David W. Fox, Jr. and Susan C. Levy as his or her true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents with full power of substitution, severally, for him in any and all capacities, to sign the Registration Statement on Form S-8 of Northern Trust Corporation, and any or all amendments (including post-effective amendments thereto), and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in connection therewith, as fully for all intents and purposes as he might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents, or his or their substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the date indicated.