LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's fourth-largest supermarket chain Wm Morrison (>> Wm. Morrison Supermarkets plc) named Andrew Higginson, a former finance director at market leader Tesco (>> Tesco PLC), as its next chairman, to bring some experience to the struggling grocer.

Higginson was most recently the chairman of Poundland (>> Poundland Group PLC), the chairman of retailer N Brown (>> N Brown Group plc) and senior independent director of BSkyB (>> British Sky Broadcasting Group plc). He said on Tuesday he would step down from Poundland.

Higginson, who spent 15 years as an executive director at Tesco, will replace Ian Gibson when he retires from Morrisons in 2015. Higginson will join the board of Morrison on October 1 as non-executive deputy chairman and chairman elect.

(Reporting by Kate Holton, Editing by Paul Sandle)