[3] The company has offices in 20 US states and locations across 23 countries in Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region.

[5] Over 20% of the wealthiest families in the United States are clients of the company's wealth management division.

[citation needed] The company's headquarters building at 50 South LaSalle Street in the Financial District of Chicago dates from 1905 and was designed by Frost and Granger.

However, when the bank needed additional space in 1965, it opted to construct a new 14-story building in the international style to the west and selected Cesar Pelli as its architect.

He is credited with guiding the bank through a difficult period when sour loans to Latin American countries were hurting profits.

When oil prices dropped suddenly in the early 1980s, many South American nations realized they could not repay their enormous bank loans.

Aggressive management, loan reserves, and write-offs enabled the bank to restore its asset quality.

Northern Trust had managed the 401k plan for Enron's employeees, who alleged mismanagement and breach of fiduciary duty.

The initial settlement was reduced a year later to $32.5 million in an agreement approved by federal judge Melinda Harmon, with Northern Trust neither admitting nor denying wrongdoing.

[26] The company had been criticized for heavy spending on parties during a 2009 golf tournament that it sponsored, after receiving government funds.

[28] In 2017, Northern Trust acquired UBS Asset Management's fund administration servicing units in Switzerland and Luxembourg.