Element Financial Appoints Karen Martin as Treasurer

Appointment adds capacity to Element's management team with a strong track-record in non-bank lending

TORONTO, Aug. 10, 2012 /CNW/ - Element Financial Corporation (TSX: EFN) ("Element"), Canada's leading independent equipment finance company, today announced that it has appointed Karen Martin as the Company's Treasurer. The appointment will take effect on September 4, 2012.

"I am very pleased that Karen has joined the Element team to lead our treasury operations as we continue to add scale and diversification to our funding activities," said Michel Béland, Element's Chief Financial Officer. "Karen brings a deep understanding of the non-bank lending industry to Element and the variety of capitalization tools that are available to the Company," added Mr. Béland.

Karen Martin joins Element after serving in various senior management, treasury and finance positions at a number of private and public financial services companies over the past 25 years including eight years at Xceed Mortgage Corporation including serving as President and Chief Financial Officer.  Prior to joining Xceed, Karen served in a number of management and treasury positions with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

"In joining one of Canada's leading non-bank lending organizations, I am looking forward to contributing to Element's continued  growth with further expansion and diversification of the funding strategies that will support that growth," said Karen Martin.

Karen holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Ontario is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA) and a Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) and has earned the professional independent director designation (ICD.D) from the Institute of Corporate Directors and the University of Toronto's Joseph L. Rotman School of Management.

In addition to the appointment of Karen Martin, the Company also announced today that Jim More has transitioned from his role as Senior Executive Vice President to take on an advisory role with Element that will allow him to pursue his other interests while continuing to serve the Company.  Mr. More has also retired from Element's Board of Directors. Mr. More joined Element in March 2010 and was responsible for building out Element's current capital structure and acquisition strategy. The Board expressed sincere appreciation to Mr. More for his contribution to the successful launch of Element Financial and wished him well in his future endeavours.

About Element Financial Corporation

With total assets of approximately $1 billion, Element Financial Corporation is Canada's leading independent equipment finance company. Element operates nationally in three segments of the equipment finance market - Element Capital provides large ticket equipment leasing, Element Finance serves the mid-ticket equipment finance market and Element Fleet provides vehicle fleet leasing and management solutions through the Company's TLS Fleet Management division.

Forward Looking Statements

This release includes forward-looking statements regarding Element and its business. Such statements are based on the current expectations and views of future events of Element's management. In some cases the forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as "may", "will", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "potential", "estimate", "believe" or the negative of these terms, or other similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release may not occur and could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting the company. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements and information by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statement or information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements or information. Except as required by applicable securities laws, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Element undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

SOURCE: Element Financial Corporation