Central Oregon’s fledgling Internet check-deposit market gained a new player recently, as Lake Oswego-based West Coast Bank launched its iDeposit program in the region.

Internet check-depositing services are offered by most national banks to large businesses, but few offer them to small businesses with fewer daily check transactions. That may be about to change: West Coast Bank is the first community bank to offer remote Internet check deposits in the Pacific Northwest.

Other local banks say they’re not far behind.

West Coast Bank’s iDeposit, launched in December, allows clients to scan checks into the bank’s computers using a special scanner. The scanned check copy then can be electronically deposited into clients’ accounts.

Customers need to purchase the scanner from the bank to participate in iDeposit. The scanner’s list price is $500, but West Coast Bank officials say they rarely charge that much.

John Baker, West Coast Bank’s director of treasury management, said his company started working on iDeposit long before the 21st Century Act, or ”Check 21,” allowed banks to bypass traditional paper-based check processes.

”It was something we thought far ahead on,” Baker said, adding that West Coast Bank has been studying Internet check deposits since 2000.

”With ‘Check 21’ in place, if a bank doesn’t have to move a check physically, why should the customer have to?” Baker said.

”Check 21” makes an image of a check the legal equivalent of the paper original, when combined with additional information. It allows quicker check processing.

With remote check depositing like iDeposit, there is no longer a need for businesses to take checks to banks.

Gary Danner, chief financial officer for Eugene-based hunting-bow maker BowTech Archery, estimated his company made roughly three 20-mile round trips to its bank every week before iDeposit.

”We have 1,000 dealers around the country, and we have a lot of checks,” Danner said. ”(Internet check depositing) saves my employees 15 to 20 minutes of making check copies for our records, and it also drives down our gas bill.”

West Coast Bank currently has about 40 iDeposit customers in Oregon and Washington state. None are in Central Oregon – yet.

But bank executives think Central Oregon is a prime market for programs like iDeposit because many of its residents reside far from banks.

Moreover, many people in Central Oregon deal heavily with checks, particularly those in the region’s booming real estate market, said West Coast Bank Regional President Ken Jundt.

”Think of how many property managers there are in Central Oregon,” Jundt said. ”They deal almost entirely with checks, and that’s just one segment of the market.”

Both Bank of the Cascades and Umpqua Bank are actively researching Internet check depositing.

An Umpqua official said the Roseburg-based bank is planning on launching the service by June.

Bank of the Cascades also hopes to start its program by midyear.

Wells Fargo officials said the bank had 400 Internet check-deposit customers nationwide in December. The bank started its service in June 2005.

Sandy Harrison-Brown, Wells Fargo’s vice president of treasury management in Portland, expects Internet check deposits to become as common as debit cards.

”Many find that, even with the upfront cost of a scanner, the savings in time and money you get from not sending employees to the bank to deposit every check quickly add up,” Harrison-Brown said.