Barclays chief Bob Diamond isn't shining in his job yet Barclays boss Bob Diamond will be back again on Friday, facing down his revolting shareholders over his £17.7m pay package. But, on Thursday he preferred to focus on some even bigger numbers. First quarter pre-tax profits of £2.45bn beat forecasts - after adjusting for an extra £300m provision for PPI mis-selling and the topsy-turvy rules that force banks to account for their own debt. But the eye-catcher was the adjusted 12.2pc return on equity. Suddenly, Barclays looked set for its 13pc target. Not only that. After last week's tiny concession, half of Diamond's £2.7m bonus is now riding on him beating the bank's 11.5pc cost of equity. True, you'd think generating a return was actually part of the day job for a bank boss - rather than an excuse for extra wonga. And, ironically, this time's return got an £83m boost from closing out hedges for staff share options. Despite the good start, though, analysts reckon Barclays' return on equity will still lag 10pc in 2012, not least with the bank levy hitting fourth-quarter results.