Eccentric lord with a role protecting universal currency (10)
I believe the answer is:
eurodollar
'currency' is the definition.
(I know that Eurodollar is a type of Eurocurrency)
'eccentric lord with a role protecting universal' is the wordplay.
'eccentric' indicates an anagram.
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'protecting' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are held or protected).
'universal' becomes 'u'.
'lord'+'a'+'role'='lordarole'
'lordarole' anagrammed gives 'erodollar'.
'erodollar' going around 'u' is 'EURODOLLAR'.
(Another definition for eurodollar that I've seen is " International currency medium".)