Amex No. 2 Leaving

Alfred F. Kelley (see correction below) wasn’t going to get the top job at American Express any time soon, so the number two man at the credit card giant is walking away to look for other opportunities to be a CEO.

Kelley, the president of the consumer business for Amex, is leaving the company in early 2010, Bloomberg reports. His departure comes after 22 years at the biggest American card issuer by purchases.

His decision followed talks with CEO Kenneth Chenault (see correction), who plans to hold onto the top job for the foreseeable future.

“In the context of discussions we have had about longer- term plans for the organization, Al made clear that he wanted the opportunity to run a company as chief executive,” Chenault, 58, said in a statement. “Given my own plans for the coming years, we both agreed that was not likely to happen at American Express in the short term.”

Kelley is getting out at the right time if he wants to run a big company himself. There are plenty of openings. Bank of America, Fidelity Investments and E*Trade Financial Corp. are all looking for CEOs.

Correction: Portfolio.com originally misreported the names of Alfred F. Kelley and Kenneth Chenault as Alfred E. Kelley and Kevin Chenault. The current version is correct.