A Legg Mason survey suggests that Chinese investors are the world's most confident risk-takers and eager to actively manage money directly.

High-net-worth individuals in Mainland China have the largest appetite for investment risk in the world, with almost all of them confident of managing their investments, a survey by Legg Mason, the US firm, said, according to a report by the South China Morning Post.

"Chinese investors perennially appear to take the most active stance towards the markets," Freeman Tsang, head of China and Hong Kong businesses at Legg Mason, was quoted as saying. The survey covered more than 4,200 affluent investors across 20 markets, including 250 mainlanders with an average net worth of $2.5 million.

The mainlanders were the most optimistic investors, with about 60 per cent of them planning to increase their equities this year, the report said, adding that 93 per cent of respondents from the mainland said they could manage their own investments and 89 per cent were confident that they could meet their financial goals.

In Hong Kong, 65 per cent of wealthy investors said they could manage their own equity investments, with 61 per cent saying they would work with a financial advisor to allocate their assets.