The Boston start-up PerkStreet Financial failed last year to attract enough customers to compete against traditional banks, but the technology-driven venture did gain an unexpected fan: a nearly 200-year-old, bricks-and-mortar bank. Eastern Bank, the state’s largest community bank, said Monday that it has hired the financial services disruptors behind PerkStreet to help it launch an initiative to bring new technology products into the staid world of banking. Eastern’s new technology laboratory will explore ways to use the massive amount of customer data that the bank collects to help come up with better and more appealing services and products. In addition to new products, the goal of Eastern Labs, will be to change the bank’s more conservative culture, said Robert Rivers, Eastern’s president. Eastern is spending more than $10 million on its technology initiatives, including the lab, Rivers said, and the venture’s success will be based on whether the bank is able to, “build cool stuff,” and “buy cool stuff.”

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/04/28/eastern-bank-hires-former-financial-services-start-team-head-new-technology-venture/j5tkUcC1cWgN1GDwiCWOnJ/story.html