The Brazilian government Tuesday authorized European insurance giant Allianz (AZ), through its Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty arm, to operate in Brazil's re-insurance market, the National Private Insurance Board said.

Allianz already operates in Brazil's corporate insurance market.

In 2007, Brazil ended seven decades of government monopoly in the area of re-insurance, the practice by which large insurance companies insure risks of smaller insurers. Beginning in 2007, the former government monopoly, known as the Brazilian Re-insurance Institute, began to compete against private companies.

-By Tom Murphy, Dow Jones Newswires; 55-11-2847-4519; brazil@dowjones.com