August 2008 – Westlake’s Senior VP of Production Becomes President

Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA – August 15, 2008 – Westlake Financial’s Board of Directors announced last week that Ian Anderson has been promoted to President.  Anderson had been serving as Senior Vice President of Production, Business Strategy, and Analytics since joining Westlake in 2005. Don Hankey, Westlake’s Chairman of the Board and acting President, made the announcement last Friday.  “Our industry has faced many challenges over the past year and the entire Westlake team has responded by focusing on our goals and executing on our business plan,” Hankey said.  “I am confident Ian [Anderson] will continue to lead Westlake in the right direction.  He has been an integral part of our success since he arrived at Westlake in 2005.  Under his guidance he has developed a Risk Management department that is second to none.  He has been instrumental in overseeing significant changes in our underwriting and helped develop new processes in our origination departments.” As President, Anderson will continue to focus on Westlake’s national growth as well as further development of its full spectrum of lending products.  “We are signing over 250 dealers a month,” Anderson says, “so we want to give our expanding dealer network the best tools to do business with.  We are constantly refining the Buy Program to work smarter, price better for performance, and be easier to use.” In addition, Anderson says another focus will be expanding Westlake’s strategic alliances with other leaders in the auto industry.  “The goal is to align Westlake with companies that are the best in their field.   We can then pass along the benefits of those alliances to our dealer network.  Put simply, we want our dealers to be able to sell more cars.” “We have a great management team lead by Paul Kerwin [CFO], Mike Pavlin [Sr. VP of Operations], and Mike Duke [Sr. VP of Servicing],” Anderson concludes.  “It is with their continued guidance and leadership we will continue to improve in all areas of our company.” Anderson received his economics degree from the University of California, Irvine.  Prior to joining Westlake, he has held positions at Bayview Acceptance and Triad Financial as a loan officer, marketing representative, risk analyst, six sigma black belt and product manager. Hankey will continue to serve as CEO and Chairman of the Board. To learn more about Westlake Financial, including markets served and financing products available, visit www.westlakefinancial.com.