Medallion Reports Update on Chicago and New York City Taxi Auctions

NEW YORK, Jan. 8, 2004 -- Medallion Financial Corp. , announced that the City of Chicago has successfully auctioned off all 50 of the non-limited taxicab medallions they put up for auction last month. Customers of Medallion Financial won approximately 80%, or 40 of the 50 non-limited taxicab medallions that were auctioned.

Separately, the City of New York, has received an environmental impact study indicating that the issuance of 900 new taxicab medallions in New York would generally be acceptable to the environment. While the process is not finalized as of yet, the study does help to clear the way for the city to start selling the first 300 medallions before long. The balance would then be sold over the next two years. This would be the largest offering the City of New York would have made in the last 70 years.

Andrew Murstein, President of Medallion Financial stated, "We are very pleased with how successful our customers were in bidding for Chicago medallions, and the manner in which the city handled the auction process. We are also pleased with the continued progress that the City of New York has been making in their planned auction. The last time New York auctioned taxi medallions, the bids were at or above the previous price levels and the market value of all medallions increased generally. Many of our customers were successful bidders at that auction, and we are hopeful they will also be successful at this upcoming auction. As we continue to grow our medallion portfolio through internal growth, as we have grown our portfolio approximately 35% over the last year, these auctions also serve to generate additional finance business for us. Over the last 70 years, taxi medallion prices have risen over 13% per year, outperforming the Dow Jones Industrial Average over the same period, as well as many other long-term investment opportunities. We believe taxicab medallions have been, and will continue to be, one of the best long term investments around."

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 loans financing small businesses in other targeted industries, and operates the largest taxicab rooftop advertising business in the world. The Company and its subsidiaries have lent over $1 billion to the taxicab and commercial equipment industries.

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 2002 Annual Report on Form 10-K.