MOVES-UK pension fund body appoints Whitbread exec as new chair

LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) - Britain's National Association of Pension Funds said on Monday it had appointed Lesley Williams, group pensions director at Whitbread (LSE: WTB.L - news) , the owner of Premier Inn hotels and Costa Coffee, as the trade body's new chair.

Williams replaces Ruston Smith, group pensions director at Tesco (Xetra: 852647 - news) , whose two-year term expires in October.

The UK pensions industry has undergone a number of huge changes in recent years. Pensioners have been given more freedom over what to do with their pension pots, while commission-based sales by financial advisers have been banned.

"We have seen an almost unprecedented amount of change in pensions in the past two years," Williams said in a statement, adding that pensions would continue to be a "hot topic". (Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by Simon Jessop)