Exhibit 99.1

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tysons Corner, Virginia

July 20, 2016

CARDINAL ANNOUNCES SECOND QUARTER 2016 EARNINGS

Cardinal Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: CFNL) (the “Company”) today reported that earnings for the quarter ended June 30, 2016 were $14.1 million, compared to $13.4 million for the year ago quarter ended June 30, 2015.   Diluted earnings per share were $0.42 and $0.40 for these same respective periods.  During the prior year period, the Company realized $1.6 million after-tax net income, or an additional $0.04 per share, related to a litigation settlement.

For the year to date period ended June 30, 2016, net income was $27.2 million, compared to $27.1 million for the six month period ended June 30, 2015. Diluted earnings per share were $0.81 and $0.82 for these same respective periods.  Before the litigation settlement, prior year to date net income was $25.5 million, or $0.77 per share.

Selected Highlights

·                  Return on assets and equity were 1.39% and 12.92% for the second quarter 2016 and 1.35% and 12.63% for the six months ending June 30, 2016, respectively.

·                  Total assets of the Company grew to $4.20 billion, increasing 11% from June 30, 2015.

·                  Loans held for investment were $3.16 billion, increasing 13% from a year ago.

·                  Customer deposits, including customer repurchase agreements, were $2.80 billion, increasing 11% from a year ago.

·                  For the second consecutive quarter, the Company had $0 nonaccrual loans at quarter end.

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·                  Net interest margin increased 2 basis points to 3.33% for the second quarter of 2016 from 3.31% for the first quarter 2016 and 8 basis points from 3.25% for the fourth quarter 2015.

·                  Total mortgage loans closings were $1.2 billion for the quarter, an increase of $403 million from $769 million in first quarter 2016. Closed purchase money mortgages represented 76% of the quarter’s volume and 71% year to date.

·                  Mortgage application volume was $1.70 billion, an increase of $200 million from $1.50 billion in the first quarter of 2016.  Purchase money mortgage applications were approximately 76% of total volume.

Review of Balance Sheet

At June 30, 2016, total assets of the Company were $4.20 billion, an increase of 11% from total assets of $3.77 billion at June 30, 2015. Average interest earning assets increased to $3.89 billion from $3.45 billion a year ago, and average interest bearing liabilities increased to $2.88 billion from $2.58 billion.

Loans held for investment grew to $3.16 billion at June 30, 2016 versus $2.80 billion a year ago, a 13% increase.  Balances increased $55 million, or 7% annualized, during the second quarter of the year.  Loan payoffs during the six-month period were approximately 20% higher than 2015, primarily a result of completion of construction projects. However in the first half of 2016, the Company originated $107 million in new construction loan commitments of which 23% are currently funded.  Loans held for sale increased to $456 million at June 30, 2016, compared to $365 million at March 31, 2016, and equaling the second quarter 2015 balance of $456 million.  The Company’s investment securities portfolio decreased slightly to $413 million from $418 million at the end of the previous quarter, and increased from $342 million a year ago.

Over the past year, deposit balances increased $309 million to $3.24 billion from $2.94 billion, an increase of 11%.  Non-interest bearing demand deposit accounts, which total $710 million and represent 22% of deposits, increased $99 million since June 30, 2015, or 16%.  The increase in deposits is due primarily to continued growth in the number of accounts and balances in consumer and business non maturing accounts.

Net Interest Income

The Company’s net interest income increased 9%, to $31.5 million from $28.9 million, for the quarters ended June 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively.    For the current quarter, the Company’s tax equivalent net interest margin increased to 3.33% versus 3.31% for the prior sequential quarter and from 3.25% for the fourth quarter 2015.

During the second quarter of 2016, the Company executed a balance sheet restructuring which is expected to positively impact the net interest margin by 0.06%, annualized beginning in the third quarter.  As a result of the restructuring the Company incurred non-interest expense of $3.6 million from the prepayment of $95 million of FHLB advances and had realized gains of $3.6

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million from the sale of approximately $50 million of securities. This transaction had minimal impact on interest rate risk and no impact on regulatory capital ratios.

The yield on loans held for investment was 4.09% for the second quarter of 2016 versus 4.10% for the first quarter of 2016.    The yield on interest earning assets remained at 3.99% for the second quarter of 2016, equal to last quarter.  For these same respective periods, the Company’s total cost of interest bearing liabilities decreased to 0.90% from 0.94%.  Including DDAs, the Company’s total cost of funds decreased to 0.73% from 0.77%.  The total cost of customer deposits decreased to 0.51% from 0.52%, which is primarily the result of management’s decision to lower rates on promotional products during the first quarter.  Brokered CD costs increased 0.02% as balances were increased to support loan growth and maturing balances were replaced at slightly higher rates.

Commercial Banking Review

For the quarter ended June 30, 2016, net income for the commercial banking segment (the Bank) was $10.8 million, an increase of 11% from $9.7 million for the second quarter of last year.  For the current year to date period ended June 30, 2016, the Bank’s net income increased 13% to $21.0 million versus $18.6 million for the year to date period ended June 30, 2015. Before taxes and the provision for loan losses, the Bank’s income for the current quarter was a record $16.7 million.  Over the past four quarters, the Bank’s net income has contributed 88% to the Company’s consolidated earnings.

For the second quarter of 2016, the provision for loan losses was $430,000 versus a provision of $1.4 million for the year ago quarter.  The year to date provision expense was $680,000 versus $1.5 million for the first six months of 2015.  For the current quarter, there were recoveries from previously charged off loans in excess of current charge offs of 0.02% (annualized) of average loans outstanding.  The allowance for loan losses was 1.04% of loans outstanding at June 30, 2016 versus 1.08% at June 30, 2015.  This ratio decrease from a year ago is primarily the result of continued improvement of credit quality.  The Company had $0 in nonaccrual loans at June 30, 2016 versus nonperforming loans of 0.03% of total assets at June 30, 2015.

Non-interest income was $4.7 million for the current quarter compared to $1.3 million for the year ago quarter.  Current year to date non-interest income was $5.9 million versus $2.6 million for the 2015 year to date period.  The current periods include a $3.6 million gain on securities sales associated with the balance sheet restructuring.

For the second quarter of 2016, non-interest expense was $19.5 million including the FHLB prepayment fee of $3.6 million.   Excluding the FHLB prepayment fee, non interest expenses were $15.8 million, a decrease of $691,000 compared to $16.5 million for the first quarter of 2016. This reflects the Company’s continued efforts on expense controls.   Comparing total non-interest expenses to the second quarter of 2015, the increase is primarily the result of increases in salary expense to support the Bank’s growth and quarterly accruals for performance based compensation. The efficiency ratio for the Bank, excluding gains from bond sales and the prepayment fee, was 48.7%, 52.0% and 46.2% for these respective quarters.  Last quarter, the Bank announced the July closing of an office in Alexandria, Virginia, and it expects to realize expense savings of approximately $110,000 per quarter starting in the second half of 2016.

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Recently, the Bank also announced the consolidation of an office in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia, and it expects to realize another $50,000 of expense savings per quarter starting in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Mortgage Banking Review

The Company’s mortgage banking subsidiary, George Mason Mortgage (GMM), was again extremely active as it accepted over $1.70 billion of loan applications during the quarter and $3.2 billion year to date.  For the quarter ended June 30, 2016, GMM reported a net profit of $4.0 million and operating net income of $1.7 million.  Operating net income (a non-GAAP measure) excludes the impact of the Staff Accounting Bulletin (“SAB”) 109 accounting requirement to record unrealized gains associated with the Company’s locked mortgage loan pipeline.  Comparable recent quarterly results are shown below.

The net realized gain on sales and other fees, before the impact of SAB, was $11.8 million for the three months ended June 30, 2016 versus $10.1 million for the same quarter of 2015.  The gain on sale margin was 2.71% for the quarter versus 2.67% last quarter and 2.52% for the year ago quarter. The increase from previous periods is primarily due to the Company’s mid-2015 decision to sell a majority of its production on a mandatory delivery basis with the expectation to increase margin.

Operating expenses were $9.4 million for the most recent quarter compared to $9.0 million last quarter and $8.0 million for the year ago quarter.  The sequential quarter increase in expenses reflects higher loan volumes that affected overtime, application processing and closing expenses by $185,000, $147,000, and $72,000, respectively. Total mortgage loan closings were $1.2 billion for the quarter versus $769 million last quarter.  In addition to volume, the expense increase over the same quarter of 2015 reflects added personnel costs related to compliance with the new TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) regulations.  All other fixed expenses are consistent with the year ago period.

Loan applications totaled $1.70 billion during the second quarter of 2016, an increase from $1.50 billion last quarter and up also from $1.40 billion for the year ago quarter. However, refinance volume currently represented only 24% for the current quarter, versus 38% of total applications last quarter and 29% for the year ago second quarter, demonstrating GMM’s continued commitment  to focus on the more stable purchase money mortgage business.

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Monthly Mortgage Loan Applications (in millions)

Parent Company Only Review

For the quarter ended June 30, 2016, Cardinal’s parent company reported a net loss of $703,000 versus a net loss of $736,000 for the previous quarter and net income of $1.2 million for the year ago quarter, which included a $2.9 million pre-tax recovery related to a litigation settlement and approximately $500,000 of related legal expenses.

Capital Ratios

All capital ratios of the Company comfortably exceeded the requirements of banking regulators to be considered well-capitalized.  Tangible common equity capital (TCE) as a percentage of total assets was 9.38% at June 30, 2016.

MANAGEMENT COMMENTS

Bernard H. Clineburg, Executive Chairman, said:

“I am again very pleased with how our Company performed during the second quarter of 2016.  Cardinal Bank reported record earnings while our balance sheet grew by a double digit percentage from a year ago.  Our strategic decisions to restructure the balance sheet improved our net interest margin further from last quarter and contributed to the 13% increase in bank earnings year over year.  Credit metrics continued to be pristine, as we had two consecutive

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quarters of $0 nonaccrual loans and near $0 past due loans 90 days or more. Our business development teams continue to execute upon all strategies to bring new client relationships to Cardinal which has resulted in consistent loan growth and a 10.5% increase to core customer deposit balances.

“George Mason continues to have strong activity as applications for loan originations exceeded $1.70 billion, with 76% of volume from purchase money mortgages.  Their results are reflective of the ongoing commitment to building a quality team of mortgage bankers with deep ties to the realtor and builder communities that provide a stable flow of business and have a back office that scales well with volume seasonality.

“Looking forward, we will continue to concentrate on gaining profitable market share, either through de novo expansion or acquisition, while delivering consistent top quartile financial performance and top decile asset quality.  We remain committed to maintaining and growing a strong financial services company for our employees, clients, the communities we serve, and especially our shareholders.”

CAUTION ABOUT FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements contain information related to matters such as the Company’s intent, belief or expectation with regard to such matters as financial and operational performance, credit quality and branch expansion. Such statements are necessarily based on management’s assumptions and estimates and are inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties concerning the Company’s operations and business environment, which are difficult to predict and beyond the control of the Company. Such risks and uncertainties could cause actual results of the Company to differ materially from those matters expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. For an explanation of some of the risks and uncertainties associated with forward-looking statements, please refer to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 and other reports filed with and furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission.  The Company has no obligation and does not undertake to update, revise or correct any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release, or after the respective dates on which such statements otherwise are made.

About Cardinal Financial Corporation: Cardinal Financial Corporation, a financial holding company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia with assets of $4.20 billion at June 30, 2016, serves the Washington Metropolitan region through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Cardinal Bank. Cardinal also operates several other subsidiaries: George Mason Mortgage, LLC, a residential mortgage lending company based in Fairfax, Virginia and Cardinal Wealth Services, Inc., a wealth management services company. The Company’s stock is traded on NASDAQ (CFNL). For

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additional information please visit our Web site at www.cardinalbank.com or call (703) 584-3400.

Contact:

Bernard H. Clineburg

Executive Chairman

or

Christopher Bergstrom

Chief Executive Officer

or

Mark A. Wendel,

EVP, Chief Financial Officer

703-584-3400

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Table 1.

Cardinal Financial Corporation and Subsidiaries

Summary Consolidated Statements of Condition

(Dollars in thousands)

(Unaudited)

Table 2.

Cardinal Financial Corporation and Subsidiaries

Summary Consolidated Income Statements

(In thousands, except share data and per share data)

(Unaudited)

Table 3.

Cardinal Financial Corporation and Subsidiaries

Summary Consolidated Income Statements

(In thousands, except share data and per share data)

(Unaudited)

Table 4.

Cardinal Financial Corporation and Subsidiaries

Selected Financial Information

(In thousands, except per share data and ratios)

(Unaudited)