Our ordeal improved, taking pound as currency (10)
I believe the answer is:
eurodollar
'currency' is the definition.
(I know that Eurodollar is a type of Eurocurrency)
'our ordeal improved taking pound' is the wordplay.
'improved' indicates an anagram.
'taking' is an insertion indicator.
'pound' becomes 'L' (the pound sign is based on an L).
'our'+'ordeal'='ourordeal'
'ourordeal' with letters rearranged gives 'eurodolar'.
'eurodolar' placed around 'l' is 'EURODOLLAR'.
'as' is the link.
(Another definition for eurodollar that I've seen is " International currency medium".)