We prove that a Banach algebra B that is a completion of the universal enveloping algebra of a finite-dimensional complex Lie algebra $\mathfrak {g}$ satisfies a polynomial identity if and only if the nilpotent radical $\mathfrak {n}$ of $\mathfrak {g}$ is associatively nilpotent in B. Furthermore, this holds if and only if a certain polynomial growth condition is satisfied on $\mathfrak {n}$ .

It is shown that a Lie algebra having a nilpotent radical has a fundamental set of invariants consisting of Casimir operators. A different proof is given in the well known special case of an abelian radical. A result relating the number of invariants to the dimension of the Cartan subalgebra is also established.