Macquarie Group Ltd. plans to cut about half of its investment-banking jobs in Asia and announce the departure of the head of its advisory and capital markets unit as soon as Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said.

About 80 to 90 jobs would be eliminated in the reductions, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the decisions are confidential. Jeremy Wernert, who was named head of Macquarie Capital, the group’s investment-banking unit, less than a year ago, is leaving, the people said.

Fiona McDonald, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman at the bank, didn’t reply to e-mails or calls seeking comment. Wernert, who previously led Asia equity capital markets, didn’t return calls to his mobile phone seeking comment.

The reductions follow a drop in revenue from the advisory and capital markets division amid a slump in deals. They also reflect Chief Executive Officer Nicholas Moore’s strategy of shifting the company toward stable businesses such as leasing, fund management and lending to rely less on trading and advisory.

The cuts will be described to employees Tuesday and occur across Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, India and Japan while excluding Australia, one of the people said. Some affected staff in Japan have been told since the end of last week to leave, the person said.

The bank has been trying to boost its principal investment business, where activities include providing capital to clients making acquisitions and investing in companies preparing to go public. Former Asia CEO Alex Harvey was named global head of principal investments in May.