Regulatory harmonization is often described as a force that should compress difference. Shared rules, aligned standards, and coordinated oversight suggest convergence. From a distance, markets operating under the same framework appear destined to resemble one another. In insurance, this expectation routinely fails. Fragmentation persists, even where regulation is formally aligned. The reason is not regulatory …

Insurance rarely presents itself directly. Between policy design and eventual outcome sits an infrastructure of intermediaries that most participants treat as neutral passageways. Brokers, agents, platforms, comparison layers. Their role is often summarized as facilitation, not formation. Yet the experience of insurance is filtered through them long before any contractual reality becomes relevant. Value, in …