Business continuity plan ( BCP), should it be "must have" or "nice to have" kind of activity for an organization, specially for a bank?

BCP is must to have not only for banks but also for any firm operating in the current world.
It helps the bank to be resilient during contingency situation.It also gives a vivid picture of the operating performance of the firm during unexpected times - time taken to resume the services, how much percentage of staff are required to resume the business with the current/adopted operating model, DRT (Disaster Recovery Time) for systems and Call Tree testing - how fast communication flows and any other means which are necessary as per the business requirement.
For instance, a network downtime for few hours .
Risk in this instance would be an impact to all the customers who are banking (may be in transaction banking, in corporate banking, in Brokerage business, FX, MM, online banking etc.,) If the bank is unable to resolve the issue within a short time, the loss would result in financial as well as reputational.
Hence, all the IT systems/applications of the bank are to be tested frequently to understand the time required to recover in such situations and more importantly the staff also need to be aware/ trained to understand the intricacies involved in such times.
In a nut shell, BCP augurs the performance of the bank if viewed in conjunction to the business rather viewing it from outside the business.

Must.

Today Banking exists in a highly competitive world, they are constantly increasing wide range of products, now a days banks are participating in many kinds of banking activities which is popularly known as “ Universal Banking “.
In order achieve their targets banks advancing their Technology.
Banking business can occur anywhere, anytime, tsunamis, Power Problems, Terrorist Attacks, Floods, Operation Risk etc, as far as concern Customer Satisfaction is most important objective for Banking Industry, it is impossible to provide service24/7/365.
Now a days it has become mandatory to prepare for anything which may occur in future and may lead to destroy the Banking Business.
It is mandatory for the banking industry to plan for “Business Continuity Plan” Effects: Disaster will destroy the over all business strategies, create an bad impact the business, Operational Loss, Financial Loss, effect the relationship with customer, Customers Confidence Loss, It may decline the Share price of Bank etc., In Order to prevent this losses, banks should adopt BCP.

According to my24 years banking experience, BCP should be "MUST HAVE" specifically for Banks as the banks cannot afford disruption in their financial transactions in terms of customer service.
 

BCP ensure the continuity of bank operations in disaster event, disaster may be system downtime, unfortunate event like fire in branch.
But the most important is its effectiveness i.e.
response time and capacity of BCP DR Site for continuity of operations.

Its Must Have

Yes of course, its a must have for financial services organizations, successful contingency plans need to establish how to provide continued access to business processes while maintaining security and confidentiality in the event of an incident.
It is important to remember that BCM is concerned with defining a set of business consequences, rather than dealing with the minutiae of any other threat.

It is the plan that can be activated by the organizations to able it to operate with at least25% of it`s capacity of it`s operations & staff , in natural disasters , or unexpected circumstances , and it is a must for banks due to the sensitivity of the nature of business, thus customers needs , and reputation.

It is a must have plan for continuity of any viable organisation.
It will aid recovery efforts against contingencies and all categories of risks pervasive to business survival.
Though not a quick-fix model but a proactive nexus for sustainability purpose.

a must hav...no comprises...

I think it BCP is one of the basic key influencing factor for continuity in business activities as an alternate business strategy against any eventualities.
since the business is facing a number of political and terrorist threat in todays world, not only banks but all dynamic business organization must have BCP.