The lack of transparency in the global financial system was and still is the necessary condition for a financial crisis to occur.  By itself, the lack of transparency doesn’t cause a financial crisis.

A financial crisis requires both the lack of transparency across large portions of the financial system and a triggering event that causes investors to question the value of the opaque securities they have an exposure to.

As soon as investors start to question the value of opaque securities, the crisis begins.  Without information, there is no logical stopping point  in the downward revision of the valuation of these securities other than zero.

Investors rapidly figure this out.  They “run” to get their money out of the opaque securities.

Regular readers have seen the Information Matrix.  It can be used in a number of ways.  One way it can be used is to show where financial crises occur.  They occur in the blind betting quadrant (in this quadrant, both buyer and seller are facing opacity and do not have access to the information necessary to value the securities).