JPMorgan Chase & Co., squeezed along with other money-market fund providers by low interest rates, has become the first to prepare investors for negative yields from funds that maintain a constant net-asset value.

Constant NAV share classes of the 3.84 billion euro ($5 billion) JPMorgan Euro Government Liquidity Fund and the 13.5 billion euro Euro Liquidity Fund will be replaced next month with new share classes that allow the funds to maintain their stable value by taking shares from investors, causing them to lose money, the New York-based bank said yesterday in a statement. The firm is giving customers until Nov. 18 to switch to the new share class, to a floating-value share class or redeem shares.

"It's not that we think negative yields are imminent, but we want to be prepared," Robert Deutsch, JPMorgan's head of global liquidity, said today in a telephone interview. He said some institutional investors, to which the funds cater, have signaled they would still use the fund if yields turn negative.