The group reports that 53% of its HNW clients – who each have investable assets of more than £1m – surveyed in a recent worldwide poll said they were bullish about the investment outlook for the next 12 months.

Carried out annually, the survey assesses investors’ attitudes to risk for the year ahead. The last time investor confidence levels were beyond the current mark was back in March 2010, when 55% of the DeVere group’s HNW individuals said they were feeling bullish.

“There has, unquestionably, been an increase in the appetite for risk amongst HNW investors. This optimistic attitude is a reflection of the gradual recovery of the global economy,” says DeVere group chief executive, Nigel Green.

The upbeat sentiment is influenced by the eurozone being seen to be taking positive steps to tackle its crisis, the fact that the US didn’t fall over the fiscal cliff, because China has avoided an economic ‘hard landing’, and because central banks are claiming to be going all-out to stabilise their respective economies, he said.

“These people understand that, thankfully, we’ve left the darkest days of the economic crisis behind and that in order to safeguard their wealth against inflation they now need to reduce their exposure to ‘safe’, low-yield investments, such as government bonds, and increase their holdings of higher risk/higher return investments.”

In 2012, 49% of HNW investors reported they felt optimistic for the forthcoming 12 months. 44% said the same in 2011.