Unless the context otherwise requires or indicates:

(a) Securities mean outstanding U.S. Savings Bonds of Series E and U.S. Savings Notes (freedom shares).

(b) Owner means an owner of securities, except a commercial bank in its own right (as distinguished from a representative or fiduciary capacity) and a nonresident alien who is a resident of an area with respect to which the Treasury Department restricts or regulates delivery of checks drawn against funds of the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof. The term includes a registered owner, whether or not a natural person, either coowner (but only the principal coowner if Series H bonds are requested in a form of registration different from that on the securities submitted), a surviving beneficiary, or any other person who would be entitled to reissue under the regulation governing U.S. Savings Bonds, 1 such as, but not limited to, any person entitled to succeed to the estate of a deceased owner.

(c) Commercial bank means a bank accepting demand deposits.

(d) Interest means the increment in value on Series E savings bonds and on savings notes.

(e) Principal coowner means a coowner who purchased the securities submitted for exchange with his own funds or received them as a gift, legacy or inheritance or as a result of judicial proceedings and had them reissued in coownership form, provided he has received no contribution in money or money's worth from the other coowner for designating him on the securities.