Exhibit 12.1



COMPUTATION OF RATIO OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES



|                                                                                   |               |               |              |  |               |      |  |   |     
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------- | ------------- | ------------ |  | ------------- | ---- |  | - | ----
|Mellon Financial Corporation (Parent Corporation) (a) (dollar amounts in millions) |               | Quarter ended
|                                                                                   | March 31,2004 |               | Dec. 31,2003 |  | March 31,2003
|Income before income taxes and equity in undistributed net income                  |               |               |              |  |               |      |  |   |     
|(loss) of subsidiaries                                                             |               | $             | 16           |  | $             | 142  |  | $ | 149 
|Fixed charges: interest expense and amortization of debt issuance costs            |               |               | 38           |  |               | 38   |  |   | 42  
|                                                                                   |               |               |              |  |               |      |  |   |     
|Total earnings (as defined)                                                        |               | $             | 54           |  | $             | 180  |  | $ | 191 
|                                                                                   |               |               |              |  |               |      |  |   |     
|Ratio of earnings (as defined) to fixed charges                                    |               |               | 1.42         |  |               | 4.79 |  |   | 4.52
|                                                                                   |               |               |              |  |               |      |  |   |     



|(a) | The parent corporation ratios include the accounts
of Mellon Financial Corporation (the Corporation); Mellon Funding Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Corporation that functions as a financing entity for the Corporation and its subsidiaries by issuing commercial paper and
other debt guaranteed by the Corporation; and MIPA, LLC, a single member limited liability company wholly owned by the Corporation, created to hold and administer corporate owned life insurance. Because these ratios exclude from earnings the equity
in undistributed net income (loss) of subsidiaries, these ratios vary with the payment of dividends by such subsidiaries.
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