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The company’s research suggested UK retail investors had just 2.3 per cent of their portfolios in global emerging markets, even though they now account for 30 per cent of world GDP.

Even the MSCI AC World index has only 12 per cent exposure to emerging markets, despite seven of the world’s 20-largest economies now being found in emerging markets, Fidelity said.

Peter Hicks, executive director of UK retail at Fidelity International, suggested advisers and investors might want to reconsider their asset allocation models.

"Now that China’s economy has overtaken that of the UK, Germany and France, it is difficult to ignore the emerging markets story. But the changing economic realities make it worth rethinking traditional level of exposure investors have to these markets," he said.

China was forecast by the International Monetary Fund to be the third most important country in terms of GDP by the end of the year, behind Japan and the US, Mr Hicks added.

He said there were still risks associated with emerging markets, including lower corporate governance standards and greater equity market volatility.

Over the longer term, however, the performance of stock markets tended to be correlated with economic performance, he said.

Mr Hicks was realistic about the level of investment most customers would be happy with.

"Matching the GDP figure of 30 per cent may be too much of a leap, but for more adventurous investors, a weighting of 10-20 per cent might be a more realistic reflection of these economies’ stature," he said.