Exhibit 99.1

For Further Information:

At Medallion Financial Corp.	At Zlokower Company
437 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022	Public Relations
Andrew Murstein, President	Harry Zlokower
Larry D. Hall, CFO	David Closs
(212) 328-2100 or 1-877-Medallion	(212) 447-9292

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDALLION OPERATING INCOME BEST SINCE 2000

Net Investment Income After Taxes Reaches $3,753,000 or$0.22 Per Share

Medallion Loans Grow 29% From a Year Ago

Total Assets Grow 25% From a Year Ago

NEW YORK, N.Y. – August 9, 2005—Medallion Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: TAXI), a specialty commercial finance company with a leading position servicing the taxi industry and targeted niche markets, announced net investment income after taxes of $3,753,000 or $0.22 per diluted common share for the 2005 second quarter, the highest such amount in the last 5 years, and an increase of $2,243,000 from $1,510,000 or $0.08 in the 2004 second quarter.

Medallion loans grew to $423,799,000 from $328,616,000 in the last 12 months, an increase of $95,183,000 or 29%. Total assets increased to $761,001,000 from $608,710,000 a year ago, an increase of $152,291,000 or 25%. Managed assets reached $869,226,000 at June 30, 2005.

This is the highest the medallion portfolio has been in the sixty-eight year history of the company, the highest managed assets have been, and the highest net investment income after taxes since 2000.

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Medallion Announces Record Earnings, Page 2

Net increase in net assets resulting from operations was $447,000 or $.03 per share in the 2005 quarter, compared to $249,000 or $0.01 per share in the 2004 quarter. This reflects approximately $1,000,000 of refinancing fees the Company received from a few large loans, and a $2,597,000 decline in the value of the Company’s investment in Clear Channel stock during the quarter, approximately $2,000,000 of which has been recovered to date in the third quarter.

Andrew Murstein, President of Medallion Financial, stated, “We are extremely pleased with our second quarter results. Our improved net investment income demonstrates the power of our asset growth and improved leverage on our bottom line. Our loan demand is robust, and we expect continued growth ahead especially with another planned medallion auction towards the end of this year. Medallion Bank is performing better than anticipated. It has contributed significantly to our earnings since opening for business only eighteen months ago. With the added growth of the consumer business, their loan production has been running on a seasonal pace of approximately $5,000,000 per month, up from less than $250,000 per month a year ago. The consumer portfolio is yielding over 18% and its 90 day past due delinquencies are under 1%. This has helped our overall yields to increase, and our net interest margin to reach 4.74% in the quarter.”

Larry Hall, Medallion’s CFO, stated, “We are making progress in achieving our goal of improved leverage on our balance sheet. With over $165,000,000 of equity, we improved our leverage to 3.5 to 1, up from 2.8 to 1 a year ago. We believe this is still far less than most other finance companies and banks, which typically have leverage of two to four times this amount. As we continue to grow our balance sheet, the benefits of improved leverage should allow our earnings to increase. Credit quality also remains good, as total delinquencies 90 days past due decreased to 2.5% from 4.8% one year ago.”

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Medallion Announces Record Earnings, Page 3

Medallion also announced that its Board of Directors has declared and will pay a cash dividend of $0.13 per share. The dividend will be payable on August 31, 2005 to shareholders of record on August 19, 2005. The Company has now declared $0.25 per share of dividends for the first six months of 2005, up from $0.16 for the first six months of 2004, for an increase of 56%.

About Medallion Financial

Medallion Financial Corp. is a specialty finance company with a leading position in the origination and servicing of loans financing the purchase of taxicab medallions and related assets. The Company also originates and services loans financing small businesses and other targeted industries and niches. The Company and its subsidiaries have lent over $2 billion to the taxicab industry and small business.

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Please note that this press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties relating to business performance, cash flow, costs, sales, net investment income, earnings, and growth. Medallion’s actual results may differ significantly from the results discussed in such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, those factors discussed under the heading “Investment Considerations,” in Medallion’s 2004 Annual Report on Form 10-K.

(Financial Tables Follow)

Medallion Financial Corporation

Consolidated Income Statements

	Quarter Ended						Six Months Ended
	June 30, 2005			June 30, 2004			June 30, 2005			June 30, 2004
Total investment income	$	14,137,562		$	10,400,888		$	27,103,822		$	16,886,137
Total interest expense		5,870,877			3,656,395			11,092,212			6,554,088
Net interest income		8,266,685			6,744,493			16,011,610			10,332,049
Gain on sale of loans		375,431			185,163			614,950			398,441
Other income		1,142,481			671,371			1,815,719			1,221,635
Total noninterest income		1,517,912			856,534			2,430,669			1,620,076
Salaries and benefits		2,708,035			2,302,759			5,620,462			4,704,481
Professional fees		482,121			549,073			987,378			1,003,605
Other operating expenses		2,156,655			2,175,953			4,079,966			3,687,560
Total operating expenses		5,346,811			5,027,785			10,687,806			9,395,646
Income tax provision		684,371			1,062,997			1,241,032			1,108,097
Net investment income after taxes		3,753,415			1,510,245			6,513,441			1,448,382
Net realized gains (losses) on investments		(682,815	)		(315,328	)		1,365,072			(514,562	)
Net change in unrealized depreciation on investments		(2,623,257	)		(946,054	)		(5,195,493	)		(2,064,646	)
Net realized/unrealized losses on investments		(3,306,072	)		(1,261,382	)		(3,830,421	)		(2,579,208	)
Net increase (decrease) in net assets from operations	$	447,343		$	248,863		$	2,683,020		$	(1,130,826	)
Weighted average shares
Basic		16,969,568			18,141,427			17,063,025			18,179,524
Diluted		17,413,963			18,540,419			17,507,421			18,179,524
Net investment income after income taxes per share
Basic	$	0.22		$	0.08		$	0.38		$	0.08
Diluted		0.22			0.08			0.37			0.08
Net increase (decrease) in net assets from operations per share
Basic	$	0.03		$	0.01		$	0.16		$	(0.06	)
Diluted		0.03			0.01			0.15			(0.06	)
Dividends declared per share	$	0.13		$	0.08		$	0.25		$	0.16

Medallion Financial Corporation

Consolidated Balance Sheets

	June 30, 2005		December 31, 2004
ASSETS
Medallion loans	$	423,798,555	$	392,131,108
Commercial loans		155,765,264		136,834,891
Consumer loans		76,628,773		66,330,748
Equity investments		28,373,891		33,645,424
Investment securities		18,285,207		14,598,837
Net investments		702,851,690		643,541,008
Cash		28,890,009		37,267,122
Accrued interest receivable		3,098,653		3,062,608
Servicing fee receivable		2,154,128		2,312,040
Fixed assets, net		922,963		991,901
Goodwill, net		5,007,583		5,007,583
Other assets		18,075,818		17,727,362
Total assets	$	761,000,844	$	709,909,624
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Accounts payable and accrued expenses	$	10,937,179	$	11,756,337
Accrued interest payable		2,036,404		1,758,956
Floating rate borrowings		309,909,102		274,959,911
Fixed rate borrowings		272,147,126		250,973,035
Total liabilities		595,029,811		539,448,239
Total shareholders’ equity		165,971,033		170,461,385
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	$	761,000,844	$	709,909,624
Number of common shares outstanding		17,027,161		17,344,999
Net asset value per share	$	9.75	$	9.83
Total managed loans	$	764,417,642	$	718,462,564
Total managed assets		869,225,894		833,075,441