Fidelity Worldwide Investment, the US-based investment management firm, has launched a new Australia-anchored equity income fund in Tokyo, Japan.

The launch is based on its Australia office's local equity fund product, which deals with higher-paying dividend stocks. In a statement, the company said that the growing demand for income-distributing funds in Japan prompted the introduction.

Australia is one of the best dividend paying markets in the world, Fidelity said, and currently offers close to a 6 per cent franked yield for the market in general. This contrasts sharply with the around 0.1 per cent Japanese investors get from bank deposits. 

The fund designed for Japan is created and managed by Paul Taylor, who runs the Fidelity Australian Equities Fund. It is available only to Japanese investors and is not open to Australians.