New signage went up Friday at the First Federal branches in the Wilmington market, making official the bank's name change in the wake of its 2013 merger with SCBT. At a 1 p.m. unveiling ceremony at First Federal's Military Cutoff Road location, a temporary cover was whisked off the new South State Bank sign, to applause from customers and staffers.

"Our people are excited and our customers are, too," said Mark Tyler, regional president. "There has been a certain amount of suspense created: first we were deciding on a name, then we announced the name, now we're revealing our new identity.

"We've already had several requests for South State Bank giveaways," he added with a smile.

Over the weekend, the entire First Federal network in North and South Carolina will undergo a system conversion, opening Monday morning as South State Bank, Tyler said. Conversion of SCBT and its two other brands is already complete. 

The South State Bank brand now is comprised of 135 banking locations in the Carolinas and Georgia, according to a news release from the company. Online banking services are at SouthStateBank.com. The bank has assets of about $8 billion, according to the release.