Results at a glance
- Period
- FY2026Q3
- Revenue
- $2.3B (2,294.4 MUSD)
- Net income
- $626.7M (626.7 MUSD)
- Net margin
- 27.3%
From the Northern Trust Open LedgerView the live ledgerIssuer filing (FY2026Q3)
Northern Trust (NASDAQ: NTRS), the Chicago custody bank and wealth manager, reported third-quarter 2026 diluted earnings of $3.40 per share, up 48% year over year (up 40% excluding notable items). Net income was $642.9 million on GAAP revenue of $2,294.4 million, up 13% — the growth came from both engines at once: trust, investment and other servicing fees rose 8% to $1,373.0 million with organic growth in all three businesses, and net interest income rose 14% to $671.4 million as the margin widened 12 basis points to 1.80%. Inside the quarter sit $48.7 million of pre-tax notable gains — a $34.0 million gain on selling the guardianship services business and a $14.7 million incremental gain from the second Visa Exchange Offer — against which the effective tax rate dropping to 19.3% from 26.1% a year ago did the rest of the compounding.
The 19% sequential dip in net income is pure base effect: Q2 carried a $525.4 million Visa Exchange gain (partly offset by a $73.9 million AFS repositioning loss and $145.6 million of software, severance and equity-grant charges). Strip the notables and CEO Mike O'Grady reports revenue up 11% with more than 600 basis points of positive operating leverage, pretax income up 21%, and return on average common equity at 20.1% versus 14.8% a year ago. Capital keeps funding the compounding: the CET1 ratio held at 12.4%, the dividend rose 10% to $0.88, more than $1.5 billion has gone back to common shareholders year to date, and the share count is down 4% year over year. Asset quality is pristine — nonaccrual assets are 0.14% of loans with the loan allowance covering nonaccruals 2.8 times.
The Headline Numbers
| Metric | Q3 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenue (GAAP) | $2,294.4M | $2,698.0M | $2,025.4M |
| Trust/investment servicing fees | $1,373.0M | $1,349.5M | $1,265.5M |
| Net interest income (GAAP) | $671.4M | $675.5M | $590.8M |
| Provision (benefit) | $5.4M | $(5.3)M | $(17.0)M |
| Noninterest expense | $1,492.5M | $1,638.6M | $1,422.9M |
| Net income to common | $626.7M | $787.5M | $441.4M |
| GAAP diluted EPS | $3.40 | $4.23 | $2.29 |
| NIM (GAAP) | 1.80% | 1.79% | 1.68% |
| Return on avg common equity | 20.1% | 25.9% | 14.8% |
| Assets under custody/administration | $19,896.6B | $20,000.2B | $18,247.6B |
| Assets under management | $1,963.0B | $1,969.9B | $1,772.7B |
| CET1 ratio (standardized) | 12.4% | 12.2% | 12.4% |
| Book value per share | $68.89 | $68.41 | $63.83 |
| Dividend per share | $0.88 | $0.80 | $0.80 |
Client assets are the leading indicator this franchise is sold on, and they point the right way: assets under custody/administration of $19.9 trillion grew 9% year over year, assets under custody grew 9% to $15.8 trillion, and assets under management grew 11% to just under $2.0 trillion. Asset Servicing pretax income rose 38% to $405.2 million on a 30.3% margin; Wealth Management rose 14% to $391.6 million on a 41.1% margin.
Five years in the ledger: trough, Visa windfall, clean compounding
The ledger runs FY2021–FY2025 plus this quarter. The arc reads clearly: 2023's trough net income of $1,107.3 million (margin squeeze plus $169.5 million of securities losses), 2024's $2,031.1 million (buoyed by an $870.4 million realized gain on Visa Class C shares sold through other operating income), and 2025's clean $1,736.9 million. Underneath the noise the fee line compounds every year — trust fees from $4,361.1 million in 2021 to $5,017.8 million in 2025 — the AOCI hole heals from $(1,569.2) million to $(590.5) million, and buybacks shrink the share count from 207.8 million to 186.3 million. Every annual income statement and balance sheet, plus this quarter's condensed statements, is modeled as examinable Beancount below.
