Gnome exposed banker protecting especially valued alias (3,2,5)

I believe the answer is:

nom de plume

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'alias' is the definition.
(nom de plume is a kind of alias)

'gnome exposed banker protecting especially valued' is the wordplay.
'exposed' means to look at the middle letters (outside letters removed).
'banker' becomes 'dee' (River Dee - something that banks).
'protecting' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are held or protected).
'especially valued' becomes 'plum' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The middle of 'gnome' is 'nom'.
'dee' going around 'plum' is 'deplume'.
'nom'+'deplume'='NOM DE PLUME'

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(Other definitions for nom de plume that I've seen before include "Author's pseudonym" , "Soubriquet" , "George Sand?" , "Assumed name" , "Pen name" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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