Capital, money held by staff (7)
I believe the answer is:
cayenne
'capital' is the definition.
(capital city of French Guiana)
'money held by staff' is the wordplay.
'money' becomes 'yen' (Japanese currency).
'held by' indicates putting letters inside.
'staff' becomes 'cane' (I've seen this in another clue).
'yen' put into 'cane' is 'CAYENNE'.
(Other definitions for cayenne that I've seen before include "something spicy" , "Hot red powdered pepper" , "Former French penal colony - pepper" , "something hot" , "Type of pepper" .)