Remain holding British pounds securely (6)

I believe the answer is:

stably

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'securely' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adverbs.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?

'remain holding british pounds' is the wordplay.
'remain' becomes 'stay' (synonyms).
'holding' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'british' becomes 'b' (abbreviation e.g. in 'BBC').
'pounds' becomes 'l' (L can represent the monetary pound).
'b'+'l'='bl'
'stay' placed around 'bl' is 'STABLY'.

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I've seen this clue in The Times.

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