>> Tend to find whatever the regulatory maximun is

This not a question of finding it so, the same way it is not a way of "finding" the speed limit on a certain stretch of road.

And those retention policies are there to preserve records for the potential of future law suits. The absence of records that actually should be there doesn't do any service turing a trial or other dispute. Quite the opposite, usuall, it is assumed those records were deleted for the very reason ypu stated, meaning the company doing it almost guilty from the get go.

Funny how you have the facts almost right, but everythong else backwards.