how long do companies retain personnel file for?

[samantha_wong]

Hi,
I used to work for a bank previously and left in 2013. When I applied again this year, HR told me that they had no record of my previous employment.
I am stunned. I thought that employee records need to be maintained for 10 years. How can a bank simply lose their employees' records?
Sam

In my company, we discard records of ex employees after 5 years.