He saved about $20 a day. And it cost him a career in finance.

A former managing director at BlackRock has been banned from the industry for life by U.K. regulators. His crime: dodging rail fares on his commute to work.

Jonathan Burrows was caught without a ticket at a station in the heart of London's financial district. Confronted by ticket inspectors, he admitted evading fares on several occasions.

The Financial Conduct Authority said the crime showed Burrows lacked honesty and integrity, and was therefore not a "fit and proper" person to work in financial services.

Burrows was forced to resign from BlackRock earlier this year.

Related: Big banks should clean up their acts, Fed official says

Boarding the train without a ticket was the easy part: Burrows' local station has no barriers.

When he arrived in London, he would use his Oyster Card -- the city's cashless payment system -- to open the barrier, triggering the maximum daily charge of £7.20 ($11), or about a third of what he should have paid for the journey.

BlackRock said Burrows' behavior ran "totally contrary" to its values and principles.

In a statement issued Monday, Burrows apologized for diverting regulators from more serious misconduct at a critical point for London's finance sector.

He was reported to have settled out of court with the railway operator Southeastern, paying £43,000 ($67,000) for tickets he had failed to buy over the last five years.

The sum was "significantly in excess of the value of the fares not paid by me," he said Monday.