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Cesar Perez, head of European equities, has been promoted to replace Ms Goodwin, who returned to New York in April to be a consultant, the company confirmed.

Ms Goodwin joined Credit Suisse in September 2006, moving to London from her previous position as chief investment officer of equities at New York-based State Street Investment Research.

She started shortly after Errol Francis resigned – the third manager to leave Credit Suisse's UK equity income franchise in three years – and at the time acknowledged her role was to stem further staff departures, boost team morale, and hire new managers to replace those that had left.

In an interview last year with Investment Adviser, Ms Goodwin described her task as a "rebuild". "Let's just say when I arrived I had some work to do," she said.

In less than two years, Ms Goodwin appointed roughly 20 managers across Credit Suisse's asset management business, included hiring Graham Ashby, Michael Crawford and Marcus Chandler as portfolio managers for the company's UK and global equity income teams.

Her departure follows that of David Blumer, chief executive of Credit Suisse, who left at the start of April for Swiss Re.

Mr Perez, who was himself appointed by Ms Goodwin, has been with Credit Suisse for less than a year, having joined last summer from M&G Investments.

Gary Withers, head of asset management, said: "In approximately two years, Ms Goodwin has made a strong contribution at Credit Suisse, having overseen a turnaround of the equities business.

"She has brought significant additional talent into the business, instigated a strong, functioning, globally integrated multi-boutique approach, and overseen significant increases in performance across our equity fund range.

"We are well positioned for future growth and we wish her the best."

However, a former employee of Credit Suisse questioned the impact Ms Goodwin's departure would have on the team.

"When she first came in there was a big hoohah, but within two years she has gone," the source said. "How can you possibly hope to have consistency when someone of that standing comes in and goes away again? For any asset management business, the most important thing is stability."

But Mr Withers dismissed the criticism. "Ms Goodwin came here to build a first-class team. She has done that," he said. "The next stage in the development of our equities business is being taken forward by the fund managers she was involved in recruiting. There has been a very smooth internal transition period with Ms Goodwin, Mr Perez and myself over recent months."