Exhibit 99.1

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
AT THE COMPANY:	AT ZLOKOWER COMPANY
Medallion Financial Corp.
437 Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10022
Andrew M. Murstein, President	Public Relations
Larry D. Hall, CFO	Harry Zlokower/Dave Closs
1-212-328-2100	1-212-447-9292
1-877-MEDALLION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

MEDALLION FINANCIAL CORP. REPORTS RECORD

2005 FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL YEAR RESULTS

Quarterly Highlights

• 4^th quarter net investment income after taxes increased 75% to $0.21 per share from $0.12 per share.

• 4^th quarter net interest margin increased to 4.66% from 3.96%.

• Medallion loans and total assets reach all-time highs.

NEW YORK, NY – March 2, 2006— Medallion Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: TAXI), a specialty finance company with a leading position servicing the taxicab industry and other niche markets in small business and consumer lending, announced net investment income after taxes increased 75% to $3,763,000, or $0.21 per diluted common share in the 2005 fourth quarter, up from $2,138,000, or $0.12 per share in the 2004 fourth quarter.

Net investment income after taxes increased 148% to $13,462,000, or $0.77 per diluted common share for 2005, up from $5,427,000 or $0.29 per share for 2004. This was the highest operating earnings, in total and per share, that the company has earned since it went public in 1996.

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Medallion Announces Fourth Quarter and 2005 Year End Results, p. 2

Andrew Murstein, President of Medallion Financial stated, “We are very pleased with the year’s results, and especially this quarter. We greatly improved our net investment income. As a result, net investment income in the fourth quarter was the highest it has ever been.”

Mr. Murstein continued, “We grew our taxicab medallion loan portfolio by 15%. Medallion loans reached approximately $450,000,000, an all-time high. Medallion Bank grew as we continued to take in federally insured deposits at the lowest relative cost of funds in our history. We increased our annual dividend by 46%. Following the sale of our Business Lenders unit, we are focusing on our medallion lending and other profitable divisions. We are confident that we are well positioned to build on this success, and we remain optimistic about our prospects for the future.”

Larry Hall, Medallion’s CFO stated, “During the year our net interest margin increased. In January 2006, we extended the term and increased our main credit facility with Merrill Lynch to $475,000,000 from $325,000,000. We remain extremely well capitalized, with a total debt to equity ratio of only 3.7 to 1. In the last two years we have reduced our operating expense ratio, which is our operating expenses divided by our average interest-earnings assets, by 34%. This is still a little high, and our goal is to further reduce it by using our existing infrastructure and available liquidity to leverage our balance sheet by adding assets and increasing earnings.”

Mr. Hall continued, “In addition to improvements in profitability and asset growth, medallion prices have also continued to grow, with corporate medallion values growing from $200,000 a few years ago to $425,000 as of March 1. This represents the highest values ever in the history of New York city taxi medallions. The average loan-to-value ratio on our loan portfolio is now under 60%, and our customers have more equity to tap into by borrowing from us to grow their businesses. In addition we anticipate the City of New York will conduct another taxi medallion auction within the next 120 days. Many of our customers should be winning bidders, thus we anticipate further increasing the size of our New York portfolio.”

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Medallion Announces Fourth Quarter and 2005 Year End Results, p.3

Mr. Hall continued, “During the year we made over $330,000,000 of investments. Loan quality remains a trademark of Medallion, as loans 90 days or more past due decreased to 2.5% from 3.2% a year ago.”

The Company also announced that it is increasing its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share from $0.11 in the 2004 fourth quarter. For the year, the Company declared dividends of $0.54 per share, up from $0.37 in 2004. Over the last eight quarters, dividends, as well as other key measures, have increased steadily, as indicated on the attached exhibit. The current dividend will be paid on March 27, 2005, to shareholders of record on March 10, 2005. Since our initial public offering in 1996, the Company has paid in excess of $90,000,000 or $6.31 per share in dividends.

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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 commercial and consumer loans in targeted niche industries. The Company and its subsidiaries have lent over $2 billion to its taxicab, commercial, and consumer customers.

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.

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Medallion Financial Corp.

Consolidated Income Statements

	Quarter Ended						Year Ended
	December 31, 2005			December 31, 2004			December 31, 2005			December 31, 2004
Total investment income	$	15,370,385		$	11,255,249		$	57,173,216		$	39,119,381
Total interest expense		6,807,594			4,982,920			24,396,773			16,063,583
Net interest income		8,562,791			6,272,329			32,776,443			23,055,798
Gain on sale of loans		46,874			173,948			884,608			904,074
Other income		544,219			757,133			2,995,749			2,575,355
Total noninterest income		591,093			931,081			3,880,357			3,479,429
Salaries and benefits		2,423,767			2,249,618			10,930,137			9,417,185
Professional fees		716,618			465,118			2,266,839			1,776,251
Other operating expenses		1,828,683			1,854,145			8,038,363			7,743,645
Total operating expenses		4,969,068			4,568,881			21,235,339			18,937,081
Income tax provision		422,061			496,460			1,959,095			2,170,737
Net investment income after taxes		3,762,755			2,138,069			13,462,366			5,427,409
Net realized gains (losses) on investments		(2,434,258	)		3,272,873			1,081,005			(25,791	)
Net change in unrealized depreciation on investments		(725,938	)		(1,823,409	)		(7,681,869	)		17,110,411
Net realized/unrealized losses on investments		(3,160,196	)		1,449,464			(6,600,864	)		17,084,620
Net increase (decrease) in net assets from operations	$	602,559		$	3,587,533		$	6,861,502		$	22,512,029
Weighted average shares
Basic		17,155,302			17,575,356			17,087,034			18,001,604
Diluted		17,591,130			18,030,899			17,552,228			18,424,518
Net investment income after income taxes per share
Basic	$	0.22		$	0.12		$	0.79		$	0.30
Diluted		0.21			0.12			0.77			0.29
Net increase (decrease) in net assets from operations per share
Basic	$	0.04		$	0.20		$	0.40		$	1.25
Diluted		0.03			0.20			0.39			1.22
Dividends declared per share	$	0.15		$	0.11		$	0.54		$	0.37

Medallion Financial Corp.

Consolidated Balance Sheets

	December 31,
	2005		2004
ASSETS
Medallion loans	$	449,672,510	$	392,131,108
Commercial loans		145,796,651		136,834,891
Consumer loans		85,678,412		66,330,748
Equity investments		24,012,508		33,645,424
Investment securities		18,092,838		14,598,837
Net investments		723,252,919		643,541,008
Cash		43,035,506		37,267,122
Accrued interest receivable		3,580,460		3,062,608
Servicing fee receivable		—		2,312,040
Fixed assets, net		614,858		991,901
Goodwill, net		5,007,583		5,007,583
Other assets		17,481,876		17,727,362
Total assets	$	792,973,202	$	709,909,624
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Accounts payable and accrued expenses	$	4,837,461	$	11,756,337
Accrued interest payable		1,759,737		1,758,956
Floating rate borrowings		323,664,951		274,959,911
Fixed rate borrowings		296,357,214		250,973,035
Total liabilities		626,619,363		539,448,239
Total shareholders’ equity		166,353,839		170,461,385
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	$	792,973,202	$	709,909,624
Number of common shares outstanding		17,173,297		17,344,999
Net asset value per share	$	9.69	$	9.83

Medallion Financial Corp.

Selected Financial Trends

Medallion Financial Corp.

Selected Financial Trends