Beleagured Bank of America will have to keep looking for a new chief executive.

Robert Kelly, chairman and CEO of BNY Mellon and a leading candidate for the job, has definitely turned the nation’s largest bank down, Bloomberg reported yesterday.

“After talking with them, I firmly concluded that my place is here,” Mr Kelly wrote in a memo to employees obtained by the news service.

“I was approached by another bank as part of their CEO search process, Mr Kelly wrote in the memo. “It’s not an opportunity that I sought.”

BoA, now the world's largest wealth manager after its purchase in January of Merrill Lynch, is looking to replace Ken Lewis, the current CEO who is stepping down from the post.